House of the Setting Sun 9: Anywhere but here
by BattleKitten
Summary: Thanksgiving is approaching, but the holiday is put in jeopardy by an influx of unstoppable demons, Willow getting sick and a missing turkey recipe.
1. Teaser

Sorry for the long, long delay. What can I say, things got crazy for a while. Here's the beginning of the next episode: Anywhere but here.

Disclaimer: Joss owns the universe and all the characters previously seen and/or heard of on BtVS and Ats. I make absolutely no money from this hobby. All original characters are mine (but Joss can use them if he wants to ;).

Rating: Young adult (15). Mild language; mild scenes of a sexual nature; nudity; semi-graphic violence - so you know, just like Buffy.

Pairings: Faith/Buffy and Willow/Kennedy predominantly, but also het and boyslash.

Summary: With relations still strained at Sunset Camp and an influx of seemingly unstoppable demons to battle, things are bad enough, but when Willow gets sick and the Scooby Elite disappear, can those left behind defeat the demons and find the missing turkey recipe in time for Thanksgiving?

* * *

Anywhere but here

Teaser

As Kennedy awoke, she smiled sleepily; the acheyness in her head countered by the warmth and snuggliness of the body she was wrapped around. She breathed deeply, sighing contentedly, twirling some red hair loosely around her finger as she lazily opened her eyes.

The hair around her finger was blonde she realised with perplexity as she tried to focus better on the woman wrapped up in her arms.

"Arghhh!"

Kennedy's sudden loud yell woke Buffy with a start.

"Arghhh!"

They looked at each other in shock, then down at their entangled limbs and then back up again.

"Arghhh!" This time they yelled in unison as they scrambled away from each other to different sides of the mattress.

"What are you doing in my bed?" Kennedy demanded, her rude wake up call increasing the pounding in her head.

"It's not your bed, it's my bed," Buffy told her indignantly.

Kennedy looked around the room, realising it was infact the older slayer's room. She rubbed at the pain in her forehead.

"What am I doing in _your_ bed?" she asked in the same demanding tone.

"You don't remember?" Buffy gave a big yawn. "You and Will had a fight last night. Well, first you and Oz, and then you and Will."

"Yeah, yeah, it's starting to come back to me… unfortunately." Kennedy groaned, feeling the pain from the scratches in her thigh again now."

"See, this is what happens when you stop patrolling cold turkey. All those little Slayer urges come out in other ways. You get more confrontational, a little less controlled about things and the next thing you know…"

"We end up in bed together?" Kennedy quipped, but then grasped the implications. "Oh crap, we didn't… did we?"

She lifted the bed covers up high and looked under. Phew, short of her boots she was still wearing what she had the night before, no clothing more askew than could be explained by sleeping in them.

She looked over at Buffy next. She was wearing pajamas designed for a ten year old and there wasn't a single button undone on the shirt.

She dropped the covers again with a relieved sigh. "We're good."

Buffy smirked. "What would you have done if I was naked?"

"Um." Kennedy paused. "I'm too hungover to answer that."

She climbed unsteadily off the bed, keeping one hand to her brow as much as possible. Not that it made a jot of difference to the pain.

"How quickly do Slayers recover from the night before?" she groaned as she tried to slip her foot into one of her boots.

"Depends. I'm usually okay by the time I wake up unless I really tied one on. Judging by the state you were in last night, I'd say… you should be okay by next week."

Kennedy glared blearily as Buffy chuckled. Giving up on the boot, she left them where they were and walked to the door in her socks. She paused before she opened it, forehead leaning on the cool jamb.

"Did Willow and I break up?"

The chuckle died on Buffy's breath. "I don't know. Maybe. She was pretty mad."

"Did I at least kill Oz?"

"No."

"S'probably because I was drunk. I'll have another crack at him when I'm sober."

Buffy chuckled despite herself. "How 'bout you come patrolling with me tonight instead. Work some of that frustration out on the demons who actually deserve it?"

Kennedy wanted to argue that Daniel Osbourne did deserve it; he was moving in on her girl, had been since he showed up. He'd even told Xander he wanted Willow back. Everyone else thought he was so cool just because he'd traveled around the world and used as few as many words per sentence as he could… So what? She could do that too. Oz wasn't cool; he was just a loser who didn't know it. He'd lost Willow once already, hadn't he? And she was going to make sure he lost her again…

However the solid ache behind her eyes and the dryness in her mouth and throat had other desires. She needed some Advil and a glass of water ASAP and so left the room without bothering to argue at all.

Buffy watched her go and then flopped back onto her bed, waving her arms and legs under the covers as she relished having it all to herself again. Wondering whether to go back to sleep and pretend the night before hadn't happened for a little longer, or to answer the call of her tummy and go in search of breakfast, she glanced at her alarm clock.

The digital display read 7:15.

Buffy sighed. It was way too early to get up considering the time she'd actually gotten into bed, but if she did make a move now she would have half an hour to speak to Faith before the other slayer had to start work. Waiting for Faith to come to her, considering the mood she had been when she'd walked away the night before, would take far too long and she didn't want to spend any longer than she had to with things awkward between them.

Hopping out of bed, she left her room and padded towards Faith's. She gave the door a gentle rap with her knuckles. There was no answer. She knocked a little harder.

"Faith."

Still no answer.

Maybe she was still asleep, or maybe she had her head under the pillow trying to ignore her.

"Faith!" Buffy tried one more time with an accompanying knock.

When all that replied was silence, Buffy morosely turned and walked away.

* * *

"And then, get this, she says Dracula is worse than Kennedy!"

Faith leaned hard on one side of the tiles and brought her clenched fist sharply down on the other side. Six ceramic squares were snapped in two along the score lines Xander had made. It was certainly quicker than his one-tile-at-a-time method.

"Did you see me go to bed with Dracula last night? Do you see me still all snuggled up under the sheets with him?"

Faith continued to rant as she adjusted the rubber goggles Xander insisted she wear.

"No, but if I had done, I'd have probably been in there with you, you know, eating spiders, doing some general toadying." Xander shuddered slightly as he scored the last of the tiles. "He has gone now, hasn't he? You're sure. You saw him leave?"

"I don't know if he's gone." Faith shrugged, mixing up a fresh batch of tile cement. "I don't care either. I got no interest in what he does one way or the other, but try telling Buffy that."

Xander sighed quietly as she started up all over again, but hey, at least she was working through her pain. And twice as fast as usual. If she kept going at this rate the shower block - that he'd estimated was still a two day job – would be finished by lunch.

If this argument lasted out the week, they could have the whole house renovated by the weekend, he thought, wincing as Faith's fist snapped the next batch of scored tiles.

* * *

(Soundtrack: Bowling for soup – When we die.)

Kennedy stared down at the broken bottle in the kitchen sink. She'd done that. She hadn't meant to, not really, it wasn't like she'd actually been aiming at Willow or anything, but staring at it recalled the anger and frustration she'd felt the night before. The broken shards of glass felt like a metaphor for her feelings and she couldn't stop the surge of distraught emotion that welled up in her. Tears fell into her beaker of Alka-seltzer, making the powder fizz.

Willow opened the door from the living room, unnoticed by Kennedy, and stared at her back, watching it heave with sobs.

She didn't know what to do or say so she just stood there, feeling her own tears well up. Fidgeting on the threshold, she watched as Kennedy got her tears under control with a big sniff and a shake of her head that made her pony tail swing from side to side.

The faucet was turned on and fast water gushed first into the sink and then into a glass. Seconds later, Kennedy tipped her head back and gulped the fizzing Alka-seltzer straight down without bothering to stir it first. She leaned down low over the sink after, as if she was about to be sick, but instead just a long, low burp emerged.

Willow's lips quirked in a teensy smile and she opened her mouth to comment, but she still didn't know what to say, so she closed it again, frowning. She wanted everything to be magically alright this morning, like the fight last night had never happened, but past experience reminded her it was way better in the long run to do it the hard, everyday way.

That meant giving herself time to be angry and dealing with Kennedy's anger – and other emotions – too. It might not be pretty, and after they'd both done the dealing thing there was a chance that things might not work out between them anyway, but at least they'd have come to that decision together… and, also important, she wouldn't automatically be the bad guy this time around.

Kennedy was picking the bottle shards out of the sink, doing it carefully so she wouldn't slice a finger off in her still-shaky state. Only big bits remained – the smaller pieces had been washed down the drain when she run the faucet and she hoped they hadn't got stuck anywhere on the way down. Xander would not be happy if he had to spend the morning taking apart the u-bend.

When all the pieces were cradled delicately in her palm she turned to the trash can and saw Willow.

"Hey." Her voice was scratchy from all the shouting last night and she cleared her throat. "Morning."

"Yeah," Willow replied softly, nodding a few times. "Good morning."

They looked at each other in silence for a few minutes and then Kennedy moved to dump the glass in the can by the door.

"So this is awkward."

"That's not really surprising, you know, after last night," Willow said, a nervous chirp in her voice. "If they weren't awkward, it would be weird."

Kennedy stared at her for a beat, unsure of what she meant, but then she cracked a little smile. "I guess. Usually the only good thing about breaking up is that you don't have to see your ex first thing the next morning, but with our living…"

"Hold on." Willow came further into the room. "We're ex now, already, just like that, after one fight?"

"Uh, I…" Confused by this reaction, Kennedy came deeper into the kitchen again too. "I thought that…"

"You thought!" Willow repeated crossly. "You thought so I don't even get a say in it?"

"That's not how this is!" Kennedy shot back. "I don't know what you want!"

"Well, you obviously know what you want. So…"

Willow was cut off by Xander appearing at the back door.

"Good morning, Kennedy," he greeted cheerfully as he walked between them to the coffee pot. "At it again I see."

"Yeah."

Kennedy barely glanced over as she answered him, still focused on their argument, but Willow seemed to forget about her instantly and turned around to face her best friend.

"Morning, Xander," she chirped, her face already registering her disappointment that he hadn't acknowledged her yet. "Are you… How, uh… You good?"

Back still to her as he finished making coffee for him and Faith, he shrugged his shoulders. "I get by."

He turned ready to leave and Willow, not wanting him to leave until they'd made up, asked him a question.

"Did Oz go to the hospital with Giles?"

"Yeah, hours…" he paused as Kennedy turned on her heel and left via the back door without another word. "… ago. Giles is already back."

Willow watched Kennedy walk across the rear lawn through the large kitchen windows and gave a weary shake of her head. If Kennedy thought they were already over, was it even worth trying to fix things? Obviously storming out of here for no reason meant that Kennedy's views on the matter hadn't changed, so why should she change hers?

"Is he okay?" she asked next.

"He's a little broken in places, but he'll mend." The conversation was apparently over, Xander walked out the door.

"Xan!"

He turned on the lawn to face her.

"Can we have lunch today? Just the two of us?"

"I can't today. Faith needs my help on the shower block. Giles' wants it done by the weekend."

"Dinner then?" she asked desperately. "My treat. To say sorry."

"No need, Will. We're okay," he said, but his tone was flat and unconvincing. "I know you only said what you said because you care." He sneered a little on the last word, but let it go with a shake of his head.

"I did. I do!"

He ignored that. "If you wanna make stuff up to someone, you might wanna start with your girlfriend. If you still want her to be your girlfriend, that is."

Willow stared after him as he headed towards the shower block. "Oh, yeah, we're fine," she muttered sarcastically.

"Talking to yourself?" A cheery voice called from behind her. "You know what that's a sign of, don't you?"

Willow turned in the doorway to face Buffy. "Yeah, that people are eavesdropping on me and my quiet time."

Buffy looked stung by the curt words, but she came deeper into the kitchen anyway and tried to keep her upbeat tone. "No, I was gonna say madness."

"Yeah, well, I'm mad too." Willow shrugged and tried to remember what she'd come into the kitchen for in the first place.

"Do you want some coffee?" Buffy asked, going to fill the pot Xander had just emptied.

"That'll help," Willow muttered.

"Okay, well what about mochas. I have the morning free – I have the whole day free if you want. We could go to the diner for lunch. My treat," Buffy finished hopefully.

"No thanks. I'm busy at lunch," Willow lied.

She still couldn't remember why she'd come in here, but Kennedy and Xander were outside, Buffy was in here, so heading to her Magic room for a few hours peace and quiet sounded like a good idea.

Buffy stopped her as she tried to walk past. "I don't even get why you're angry with me."

"You slept with my girlfriend last night, Buffy!"

Buffy choked on her discomfiture. "No I didn't! I slept next to, not with. Big, big difference."

"Not from where I'm standing. Either way you were all snuggled up in your bed together, while I was in mine and Kennedy's alone."

"I thought you guys had split up," Buffy asked, honestly a little confused. She realised before the look on Willow's face spelled it out that it hadn't been the brightest thing to say. "I know that probably seems beside the point, and maybe it is, but what did you want me to do, Will? She was drunk; she fell asleep on the bed. Short of picking her up and tossing her into your room I don't know what I could have done differently."

"You could have stopped to think how it would make me feel?" Willow snapped before flouncing towards her Magic room. She knew she was flouncing, but she was too huffy to stop.

"I did!" Buffy cried after her, but the door at the back of the kitchen was already slamming. She fell into one of the kitchen chairs, with a heartfelt: "Crap."

"Maybe next time you should just toss Kennedy over your balcony; might save you hassle in the long run."

Buffy turned, surprised, to see Faith leaning in the doorway. "Huh?"

"I'm planning on tossin' her off the roof later on if you wanna pick up some tips."

Buffy smiled. "Not necessary; there won't be a next time. From now on I think my bedroom is out of bounds as far as Kennedy is concerned."

Faith pushed off the doorframe and walked to the far corner cupboards to find the bread.

"Watch it, B. You ban many more women from your bedroom, you're gonna have to go back to screwing guys."

Buffy sighed. She'd thought the amiable atmosphere was too good to be true.

"You're not banned from my bedroom, Faith. Last night was just… awkward."

"Yeah, well, entertaining two chicks at the same time can be that way." Faith stuffed four slices of bread into the toaster. "Not that I ever done it. Two guys, sure, uh, three actually, one time, but never chicks."

Buffy's eyes were saucers, but she kept them turned to the table top. Three guys? At once? She'd had three guys her entire life. Okay, four, but Parker so did not count.

If Faith realised she was silently freaking out, she didn't acknowledge it. She leaned over the counter; lightly flicking the side of the toaster like it would make it pop faster.

Buffy cleared her throat. "Anyway. Like I said. I wasn't entertaining Kennedy. She was just asleep on my bed. She wasn't even under the covers until I woke up this morning."

Faith's head whipped around and her mouth opened, but she didn't speak. After a few seconds of uncomfortable staring, the toast popped up and she turned as nonchalantly as possible back to fetch it.

"So did you invite her under for some early morning fooling around, or did she just climb in and wake you with a tongue surprise?"

Buffy went red at the suggestions.

"Neither," she said firmly. "In fact I came to see you as soon as I woke up, but you weren't in your room."

Faith glanced around again, looking a little surprised.

"I had to start work early." She went back to buttering the four slices of toast. "What did you want?"

"I wanted to apologise for being so grouchy last night."

Faith nodded, but that was her only reaction.

"I was really tired and I just didn't want to deal with any more… anything, but I know I should have at least listened to you."

"I agree."

Buffy rolled her eyes at Faith's taciturn reply, but ploughed ahead anyway. "So, did you wanna talk about it now?"

Faith shook her head as she cut the four slices of toast diagonally and grabbed a plate to stack them on.

"I have to get back to work. I only stopped for breakfast."

"Well, aren't you at least going to eat it here?" Buffy asked as Faith picked up the plate ready to leave. "I'm sure Xander won't mind if you take fifteen minutes break."

"Maybe he won't, but I do," Faith said, stopping next to her chair on the way to the door and finally giving Buffy her full attention. "I took a half day yesterday, wasting time getting ready for our date, and I wanna make it up before the end of the week."

"You think our date was a waste of time?" Buffy asked touchily.

"Well, considering it was supposed to make things easier between us and now we're _here… _I'm gonna go with yeah."

Buffy couldn't really refute that, but it still hurt. Did this mean Faith hadn't enjoyed any of it? Or had Buffy's behaviour before bedtime ruined the whole experience for Faith.

Before she could ask, Faith was leaning down, free hand on the back of Buffy's head as she kissed her firmly on the lips. It wasn't a quick peck, but it wouldn't have rated much higher than a PG certificate either. She still felt a little breathless when Faith swooped back up as fast as she'd swooped down.

"I gotta go, babe." Faith was already walking away by the time Buffy had stopped blinking at her.

"I, ah, okay." She shook her head slightly. "We still need to talk."

"And we will." Faith shrugged. "Later. You okay with that?"

"Um, sure, no problem," Buffy said helplessly.

Faith gave her a little wave without turning around. She didn't want Buffy to see the victorious smile on her face.

Buffy just watched her go, still slightly dazed from the conversation and the kiss. Hadn't they been arguing? Did this mean they were made up already? Was that probably too much to hope for?

Dawn came flying through the swing door from the living room, her book bag in one hand and a power bar in her other.

"Morn…" Buffy began.

"I'm still not speaking to you!" Dawn snapped as she whirled through the kitchen and straight out the back door.

"Um, yeah, okay, whatever." Buffy absently waved goodbye to her, her mind still on Faith.

How much later did Faith mean? Today sometime, surely, or this week, at least, right? She wouldn't leave it any longer than that, would she? After all, it was in both their interests to make up as soon as possible.

Buffy groaned to herself; sometimes it felt like this relationship was never going to get off the ground.

* * *

_**Two weeks later**_

Buffy flew backwards six feet above the ground and crashed into Faith – coming the other way – in mid-air. They fell to the grass together, both groaning in pain from the impact.

"This is going well," Buffy grumbled, scrambling back to her feet.

"Yeah, fantastic," Faith muttered sarcastically as she did the same. "You head-butted my spine!"

"I didn't mean to! You got in my way."

"Whatever."

Without exchanging another word, they both ran back into their respective battles on opposite sides of the clearing.

"There's still thirteen of them!" Xander shouted out between swings of his sword – swings that, much to irritation, were mostly missing the mark, the mark being the five foot lizard things surrounding them.

"Your point?" Kennedy, closest to him, ground out as she fired her crossbow again just to have the bolt bounce off the scaly hide of the demon once more.

"That there were thirteen demons when we started and there are still thirteen demons now." Xander slashed and parried with the thing in front of him. "I don't need to be good at Math to know that's bad."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't my idea to send all the Slayers home for a two week Thanksgiving break," Kennedy said, shooting Buffy an annoyed look as she reloaded. "If we were at full strength we'd have finished these mutants by now."

"You agreed to a six week intensive training period before they're all assigned to their hotspots," Buffy reminded her from where she was kicking and punching at two lizards on the other side of the clearing. "I wanted them to have some time with their families beforehand."

"But why now?" Willow called over from the mostly safe distance she was standing at with Giles. "Did ya really think in the middle of a demon attack was good timing?"

"We weren't _in _the middle of a demon attack when I suggested it," Buffy shouted back angrily. "Besides, Giles signed off on it."

"Yes, well," Giles began as he swiped ineffectually at one of the bi-pedal reptiles scuttling past while pulling Willow further back at the same time. "I don't think increased numbers would help us any. They appear to be protected by some kind of magic, which would explain why, despite our best efforts, we're not gaining any ground."

"He's right, guys," Buffy realised as she planted her foot in a lizard's groinal area and he didn't even notice. "We have to fall back, regroup, do… _something_, anyway," she added as she was thrown over the demon's head to land in a bush behind him.

"I don't know," Faith countered as she also went flying across the clearing again. She rolled expertly, came back to her feet and immediately began attacking the demon closest to her. "I'm just starting to enjoy myself."

"You would be," Buffy complained as she extricated herself from the bush. "Personally I like my challenges less challengy than this."

"Stamina going, B?"

"No, just my patience."

Faith elbowed her opponent in its broad-nosed face as she turned her focus on Buffy.

"You got something to say, B?"

Buffy looked over, surprised, she'd been talking about the demons, after all.

"No, but if you _finally_ do, I'd love to hear it." She winced as Faith took a hit and went sprawling face down across the grass. "But later's fine."

Kennedy started laughing at the result of Faith's inattention, but it soon turned to a yelp as Faith, staying down, twirled her body in a spinning kick and took both of the younger Slayer's feet out from under her.

"Hey, we're on the same side!" Kennedy griped as she landed hard on her butt.

As Kennedy tried to kick her, Faith kicked back. "You start acting like it, maybe I'll start acting like it."

"Will you two pack it in!" Xander cried out as he back-stepped hurriedly to avoid claws of lizard and nearly tripped over them.

"Yeah, don't make me have to separate the two of you," Buffy added, half joking, half concerned because they were just fooling around and the longer this went on, the more chance there was of one of them – probably Xander or Giles – getting hurt. "Again."

"Separating us ain't the problem," Faith said, bouncing back to her feet. "Separating _you two_ is the problem."

"Here, here," Willow called, just loud enough, from the sidelines.

"Oh, boy." Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Do you realise how stupid that sounds," Kennedy asked; she'd given up on the crossbow, probably thinking that punching would ease a greater amount of her frustration. "It was one, silly, unplanned, never-to-be-repeated, spell-induced kiss! That's what you're both jealous of!"

"So are you!" Willow reminded her. "That's what you're being stupid and jealous of too!"

"Girl's not wrong," Faith put in.

"Oh, would you both just grow up!" Buffy yelled.

"Actually, would you all, please, _grow up_!" Giles shouted, frustrated with the lot of them.

"Hey, what did I do? Ow!" Xander collided with Faith, who kept him on his feet, but then nearly knocked him over again as she shoved him out of demon's path.

"I was talking to the ladies," Giles assured him. Going through the satchel over his shoulder, he addressed Willow next. "Perhaps you can try an anti-protection spell. I believe we brought the right ingredients."

"You brought ingredients?" Willow asked in surprise; and then with only semi-playful finger pointing, added. "Have you been pilfering from my magic room, Mister?"

"It's the Council's magic room…" Seeing her eyes get big and less playful, he continued hastily. "…but to speed this up: Yes, I have. I did tell you that from reading Andrew's notes magic may be necessary against these creatures."

"But I thought we agreed that we'd assess the situation first," Willow sounded a little worried as she spoke over the noises of the free-for-all fight just metres from them.

"We did, and I have spent the last hour assessing, and I have come to the conclusion that an anti-protection spell is our only course if we wish to defeat these things tonight."

"But… but shouldn't we do more research first. We don't know what kind of protection spells their using. It's not like all of them can be broken with just a simple cover-all anti-spell. Some of them need a little more finesse."

"I've brought a range of ingredients and you are very adaptable, Willow," Giles reminded her. "I'm sure if at first you don't succeed…"

Willow stared at him in dismay for the cliché. "You surely don't expect me to just throw magic at these guys until I find something that works?"

"You're not normally so shy when it comes to throwing magic around," Kennedy pointed out as she paid the price for hand to hand and took her first flight over the clearing.

"Girl's gotta a point," Faith repeated after her nose was bloodied; proving she wasn't completely biased against Kennedy.

Willow ignored Faith, but snapped at Kennedy. "And you're not normally so supportive of it."

"I've always been supportive of it when it keeps me from getting my ass handed to me," Kennedy countered, already back in the fray albeit on the other side of the clearing.

"Come on, Willow." Giles had already moved a little deeper into the trees and was spreading a blanket on the grass. "Let's try something simple to begin with and take it from there."

Willow moved towards him but her answer was hesitant. "I don't know."

"For God's sake, Will." Buffy called over to them. "If you're not up to doing magic why are you even here?"

"Thanks a lot, Buff!" Willow shouted back sarcastically. "Sure is nice to know I can count on your support."

Buffy rolled her eyes again. "I just meant that you're obviously not here to fight, 'cause you're not! Fighting, that is. So make yourself useful and try a spell already."

"Look, whatever Giles says, just throwing any old spells at them could make things worse! We hardly know anything about them and what we do know came from Andrew! Since when do we take Andrew's word without double checking it first?"

"Naomi has checked all of his research thoroughly," Giles guaranteed.

"Maybe, but she obviously didn't learn everything or else we wouldn't have been out here an hour before we realised we needed an anti-protection spell to even make a mark on them," Willow argued. "I think Buffy was right. We need to retreat and learn more about them and then come back better prepared."

"And what if they hurt someone while we're preparing to fight them another day?" Kennedy asked validly.

"They don't seem like the hurty type of demon," Willow said.

"Really?" Buffy posed dubiously as her right eye swelled from a direct hit.

"I just meant, with the size of their claws they could have cut through you guys like hamburger, but they just seem to be defending themselves. Maybe if we back off, they'll back off."

Xander suddenly yelled in pain as a swipe left his shirt sleeve torn and bloody and knocked his sword from his hand. Buffy was between him and the demon almost instantly, leaving Xander to stagger back towards the tree line, wincing and clutching at his wound.

"Do the damn spell, Will!" he ground out through his pain, shooting her a furious look. "Please."

"I can't… this isn't… Every time I do a spell on the fly these days, it has unforeseen side-effects." Despite her misgivings she was already dropping to her knees next to Giles. He already had several ingredients and a small cauldron ready. "Side-effects that piss people off, including me. It's kinda why I've been staying away from the stuff."

"You can do this," Giles promised her.

"Yeah, Red," Faith called out encouragingly. "I don't wanna push you to do anything you don't wanna, but maybe this is justa: 'The only thing to fear is fear itself' deal."

"And if you're right, peachy," Willow said as Giles lit a fire under the cauldron and she started sprinkling herbs into it. "But if you're wrong. I'm about to make this a whole lot worse."

"I think we have to take the chance!" Buffy yelled as she saw Faith narrowly miss getting her shoulder clawed off.

The fight seemed to intensify as Willow's chanting began, but it was probably just because all three slayers were more than ready for it to be over now. They were growing tired whereas the demons were not, if something didn't change in their favour soon a scratched arm was going to be the least of the wounds they took home with them, assuming they all made it home.

As Willow's chant rose towards it climax, Giles shouted over the sound of the gathering magic.

"Try some of the Bilbury Root. It has anti-cloaking qualities too. It may determine if there are any of their more cognizant brethren here."

Willow wanted to ask if he was sure that was a good idea, but she already had a bad feeling about this. Which may have been because of what Faith had said about her fear being in control, or may have been because she knew more about this stuff than anyone else here – even Giles. So breaking her chant to ask was probably a bad idea and Giles was holding the root up already, waiting for her to take it.

So, in a hurry and trying not to let negative thoughts invade her consciousness, she took the offered ingredient and crumbled it expertly into the cauldron.

Just as her words reached a crescendo she threw her arms out in front of her; channeling the blast of magic towards the fighting demons and slayers.


	2. Act 1

Act one

The sickly yellow blast of magic shot out into the clearing. Separating into thinner tendrils and zigzagging to avoid the Slayers, with a loud crackle it struck each of the thirteen demonic lizards simultaneously.

Faith threw her fist into the air with a cry of: "Yeah, that's the… Whoa!"

As the magic hit the demons she saw it flash, increase and then zip back like Xander's tape measure when he hit release. She tried to jump back out of the way, but there were no longer individual tendrils, but a wide, sweeping disk of yellow expanding outwards from each five foot lizard.

She heard Kennedy yell duck, but she was already diving to the ground herself. She rolled over as she landed, ready to shout at the three non-slayers to get down, but seeing Buffy running in towards the demons – Xander's sword raised high to strike – stole her attention.

"B, you idiot! Get…"

The magic was faster than she could speak and with a sound effect straight out of a Batman comic – Pow! – the blast hurled her backwards so far and fast that Faith lost sight of her.

Slightly panicked, she didn't even think to move as she just stared into the woods after her. "Buf…"

She heard Xander call out, "Oh damn!", a "Good Lord!" from Giles and Kennedy screaming out: "Willow!"; and cut her eyes back to the group in time to see all three of them get hit by the magic and flung out of sight.

Kennedy was up, ready to run after them.

Faith flipped upright and grabbed her arm. "Wait. The demons."

"To hell with the demons."

"If we don't take advantage of the magic, then they just got blasted to Kingdom Come for nothing," Faith reasoned, and she wanted a cookie for it later because she was feeling about as unreasonable as Kennedy was acting.

"And if we don't go after them they might actually end up in Kingdom Come for real," Kennedy reasoned back.

"Yeah, and if we don't kill the demons a hell of a lot more people might be joining them."

"My first priority is to my friends." Kennedy tried to pull away.

Faith held on as she countered that argument. "Your first priority is too the innocents that are gonna get eaten if we leave them alive."

"What do you know about protecting innocents? I didn't think you even believed in the concept."

Kennedy finally got her arm away as Faith let it slip through her fingers at the jibe.

Sounded like Buffy had been talking about her again. Pity she never seemed to talk about her good points. Okay so they were fewer and further between than her bad ones – especially if Buffy was telling tales about their past – but surely their rarity should have made them more interesting topics of conversation.

"Let's just say I've been doing this a lot longer than you, _Kenny, _and I know what I'm talking about."

"Just because you've spent four years fighting your _inner demons_ in prison doesn't make you an expert at the slayer gig, you know?"

Faith's mouth opened, but for a second she wasn't entirely sure how to respond. She even almost smiled at the kid's audacity. She didn't believe in pulling any punches, that was for sure. Faith had to respect that, even though it pissed her off. In the end she shook it off. Brat had a point and knocking her on her ass for making it would only make her look petty; and she didn't need that right now.

"Yeah, well kiddo, four _months _patrolling around this second rate Hellmouth don't make you one neither. So I'm calling rank by number of years served: I say, you do, got it?"

They stared each other down, until Faith suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, did you catch the complete lack of demons tearing us apart right now?"

Kennedy went to retort on instinct, but then the actual question sunk in. "Yeah."

They both looked around cautiously.

Faith couldn't see or sense any demons in the area any longer. The clearing was empty aside from the two of them standing in the centre and the woods around them were dark and still.

"Did they run off or did the magic make them disappear?" Kennedy asked, turning on the spot to check all around.

Faith shook her head. The last thing she'd seen was the magic slamming Buffy and her Besties through the air at high speed. Now the demons were gone, how didn't matter, she could turn her attention to finding the others and making sure they weren't hurt or… the other thing."

"You go that way," she instructed as she pointed through the trees in the direction Xander had disappeared. "I'm going this way. Red and Giles should be somewhere in the middle. Stay within shouting distance in case those green bastards are still around."

"I'm agreeing because it's a good plan, not because its you telling me to do it," Kennedy grumbled as she started towards the woods.

"I'll make sure that's goes on the record," Faith muttered sarcastically as she did the same.

There was a crashing of dead, brown undergrowth in the direction Faith had chosen and they both tensed, expecting a demon to emerge. It didn't, but a short blonde did.

"The green bastards went that way," Buffy slurred as she stumbled drunkenly out of the trees. "Ran right by me."

Striding over, Faith took one of Buffy's elbows to keep her steady. "You saw them? Why didn't you stop them?"

Buffy turned her head slowly to blink at her. "I'm sorry; I was too busy trying to remember which end of me to put on the ground. What was your excuse?"

"Kennedy." Faith said, feeling that it explained everything simply.

"Handful, isn't she?" Buffy smiled affectionately.

Stone-faced, Faith let go of her elbow. "Like that, do you?"

"Yeah," Buffy said absently, swaying as she watched Kennedy rush to take an unconscious Willow from a staggering Xander.

"Guess you don't need me then. More than a handful being a waste and all that."

Faith walked off to give Giles – who was just lurching into the clearing – a shoulder to lean on.

"Kinda reminds me of you, but without the low down…" Buffy continued with a dreamy smile on her face as she turned to where Faith was no longer standing. "…tickle. Where'd you… Oops."

Hearing the thud behind her, Faith turned to see Buffy face down on the grass. It didn't look like she'd even tried to catch herself, but she couldn't have done much damage because she was giggling.

Giles was wobbly on his feet, but he didn't seem as loopy as Buffy. He'd been further from the backlash of magic. Willow hadn't been that close either, but she was like the magic tamer – she was always gonna get mauled the worst when it turned.

"She okay?"

"She's unconscious, but she sounds like she's breathing fine," Kennedy said, still looking worriedly at the witch in her arms.

"Her pulse is strong," Xander added. "Let's just get her to the car."

For every few steps forward he took he was taking a couple of steps sideways. He checked his reeling with his arms out for balance, only to reel to the other side on his next attempt.

With the way he was going, they would wind up in Lake Erie before they made it to the car.

"What the hell was that spell?" she asked as she led Giles over to Xander and made them support each other. "I thought it was just meant to leave 'em vulnerable to us killing them."

"Well, it was supposed to be," Giles said as he and Xander meandered this way and that into the trees with their arms around each other for stability. "But, it would seem that not only were they protected from physical attacks, they were also protected from…"

"Magic?" Kennedy guessed.

"It would appear so," Giles replied sheepishly.

"But why's it… why's it making us…?" Xander asked, his speech disrupted by the bush he'd walked himself and Giles into. "... stupid thing. Like this?"

"I don't know. Willow will be able to tell us more, I'm hoping, when she wakes up. Xander, we clearly cannot go directly through the bush!"

Faith chuckled, letting them all sort themselves out and walk ahead as she stopped beside Buffy's prone form. She nudged her arm with the toe of her boot.

"Think you can stand?"

"I don't know," came the muffled reply. "How's that one go again?"

"Tell ya what?" Faith squatted down next to her. "I'll hum a few bars and you join in when you remember it."

"Okay. I'll name that tune in…" Faith grabbed her under the arms and dragged her upright. "…Whoa, head rush!"

She sagged, but Faith kept her on her feet. "Think you can walk?"

Buffy leant against her for a moment and it looked doubtful, but then her head seemed to clear and she stood upright under her own steam.

"Yeah, just give me a sec for the spinning to stop." She was swaying again, her arms out slightly to keep her steady as she took a few deep breaths. "Wooo. Next time we have a party, we should just buy a keg of that spell. Okay, I'm good." She stood up straight and swung an arm out in gesture. "Lead the way."

Faith watched her warily, but Buffy grinned in encouragement, gesturing again. Nodding, she turned to follow the others to the car.

Thud!

Rolling her eyes and biting back a grin, Faith turned slowly back around.

"Okay, Giggles, that's it." She rolled Buffy over with her boot. "You're forcing me to carry you to the car."

"I have no problem with that." On her back now, Buffy was trying unsuccessfully to stifle the laughter still bubbling out of her. "Just promise me you'll be gentle?"

"I'll do my best, Twinkie."

Stooping, she grabbed Buffy's wrist and hauled her up again. Once unsteadily on her feet, Buffy waited patiently to be taken in Faith's arms, but she had other ideas. Bending her knees, she put an arm around Buffy's thighs and boosted her up over her shoulder.

"Okay, I've changed my m-m-mind." Buffy's voice came out a little wavery now that Faith was heading across the grass and into the trees. "I have a p-p-roblem with this."

Faith just grinned and gave Buffy's ass a light smack with her free hand as she kept on walking.

"H-h-hey!"

* * *

When Kennedy pulled the truck along the side of the house, Faith helped first Giles and then Buffy out of the back of it. Buffy was already starting to feel better, although still a little shaky in her head, but this was possibly the best she and Faith had gotten along recently and she was loath to end it too soon.

As Giles walked slowly to the house, she stayed next to Faith waiting for the others to get out. Xander also seemed a lot better although he held on to the door as helped Willow to the ground. Buffy was pleased she was conscious again, but the witch still looked pale and shaky and didn't let go of Xander once she was on her feet. He kept her steady, but they didn't speak.

Nobody seemed to speak much to each other at the moment unless it was with raised voices or snide comments. It worried Buffy more than a little, but there didn't seem to be a lot she could do about it. The house was divided down strange lines and she supposed that for now she just had to take comfort in the fact that they could all still be there for each other when it really mattered, even if it went back to strained straight afterwards.

Faith caught her eye and nodded her head towards the house. "Think you can walk okay?"

"I think so."

She looked over at Willow next and saw how wobbly she still was. "You want a shoulder to lean on back to the house, Red?"

"It's okay, I've got her." Kennedy finished locking the truck and came around to their side.

Willow didn't object as Kennedy put an arm around her and together they made their way slowly around to the back door with Xander following.

"You ladies coming?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Yeah, we'll just be a minute?" It came out like a question as Buffy looked hopefully at Faith.

Faith was looking back, and her eyes seemed almost as hopeful, but she just muttered. "It's cold out here, B."

"I know, but…"

"What? That spell make ya horny as well as loopy?" Faith smiled.

"No! I just want to talk."

"Well, we can talk in the warm."

"But will we?" Buffy asked doubtfully.

Faith shook her head. "It's late. Maybe tomorrow."

Buffy shook her head too in frustration. "Tomorrow never comes!"

"Don't go getting deep on me." Faith chuckled. "Come on, I'm going in."

Buffy watched her walk away, thinking she was just going to leave her out here, but Faith stopped at the corner of the house and waited patiently until she pushed off of the truck and walked unsteadily after her. Once they were level, Faith put an arm around her shoulders and wordlessly helped her the rest of the way.

"Thanks," she muttered once they were in the kitchen, extricating herself so she could sit down.

Everyone else was already seated except Kennedy who was rooting through the refrigerator. Faith went to stick her head in it too.

Andrew had waited up and was bustling behind the breakfast counter making tea and cocoa. He was the only Scooby – Oh God, had she just called him a Scooby? – the only ex-Sunnydalian who hadn't taken sides in the current tension war. He still fussed over, griped at and generally annoyed everyone equally when he wasn't off doing stuff Buffy didn't want to think too hard about with Ethan Rayne's son.

"So how come you didn't get them?" he was asking. "I gave you all you needed to know."

"Actually you didn't," Kennedy said irritably. Although it was possible she was more irritated with Faith than Andrew; the older Slayer kept pushing her as they both searched for snacks. "Would you stop it?"

"No, I'm hungry too." Faith gave her another little push out of the way as she inspected a tub of sweet chilli dip.

"I didn't?" Andrew asked uncertainly.

"You didn't say they were magic," Xander clarified.

"They're not," Andrew replied sure of himself.

"Trust me, they are," Willow told him quietly. She still looked sick, but she was getting a little colour back in her cheeks.

"They're not," he repeated obstinately. "Nothing in any of the books said that."

Willow glared at him and he shrank back a little but still looked defiant.

Buffy put her hand over Willow's to get her attention. "Don't waste your energy frogifying him. He'd just be more annoying with all the hopping around and he wouldn't be able to reach the stove."

Willow started to smile, but quashed it and pulled her hand away. "I don't turn people into frogs. I don't turn people into anything unless they really deserve it."

Buffy sat back, rolling her eyes. "Fine, turn me into whatever you think I deserve if it'll make you feel better and end this silly fight."

With the way Willow looked at her, Buffy thought she was going to regret her flippant remark, but Giles cleared his throat before she turned into a rat or a snake or a pile of dog dirt.

"Ladies please, we have more important matters to discuss." As Andrew started putting mugs and cups on the table, Giles looked up at him. "The demons we battled tonight may not have been magical themselves, but they were most certainly impervious to magic. Are you sure none of the texts you and Naomi read mentioned anything like that?"

"I'm sure." Andrew never slowed down his table service but he was deep in thought for a few moments. "There were records of magic being used successfully against them so how could they be impervious. Are you sure it was the Meluthian Hedrays you were fighting?"

"Yes they fit the rest of your description perfectly," Giles assured him.

Andrew wore a proud smile, but Buffy shook her head as she took her cocoa from him.

"Don't preen just yet. You still missed the can't be killed by magic bit."

Andrew deflated. "I didn't miss it! It wasn't there."

Kennedy came back to the table munching on a carrot as Faith, head still in the fridge, demanded,

"Why do you have no decent food in here, Andrew?"

"Well they've scarpered now anyway so let's just figure it out in the morning," Xander said through a yawn.

"Yeah, sleep is definitely needed before I help puzzle out this puzzler," Willow backed him up as she sipped from her lemon tea.

Giles agreed too. "Yes, fresher heads will prevail, I'm sure." He stood up with his tea cup. "Goodnight everyone, I'm afraid I must retire."

"Don't you want…?" Andrew began, but Giles had already left the kitchen.

"Yeah I gotta hit the sack too," Xander decided, wearily getting to his feet.

"But I…" Andrew began again.

Xander cut him off. "Don't wake me when you come in, Andy, or I might just have to kill you."

"I'll try not to." Andrew forlornly watched him leave the room.

Faith came back to the table with the dip and a bag of plain chips and took the seat Giles had left next to Buffy.

"Hungry, B?" She shoved the dip towards her.

Buffy just wrinkled her nose, but Willow quickly covered her mouth and stood up.

"I need to go and lay down."

"Are you okay?" Buffy and Kennedy asked at the same time.

She ignored Buffy, but answered Kennedy. "I think so. I just need to be somewhere quiet and horizontal for a while."

"Okay, well if you need…" Kennedy let the sentence peter out.

They silently shared a look.

Willow dropped her gaze first. "Thanks for looking after me earlier."

"Anytime."

"Really?"

Kennedy didn't answer but she was still looking at Willow even if Willow wasn't looking back. After more silence, Kennedy watched Willow walk up the back stairs.

Once she was out of sight, Kennedy sighed heavily and stood up herself. "'Night."

Andrew tried to step in front of her. "Don't go yet."

"No point staying awake for the sake of it now," she said as she grabbed the remains of her carrot and walked around him. "You should probably go up soon too. You know what happened last time Goorzie tried to get in bed with Xander."

"But…" he began, but she was already walking out of the back door.

"Okay, well I guess the debriefing is over then." Buffy smiled as she stood up, her eyes lingering on Faith as she shoved chips covered in dip into her mouth. "And I'm really tired so…"

She yawned on cue and stepped away from the table, hoping Faith would take the hint and get up and do the same. She didn't.

Disappointed, she continued. "Okay, night guys."

"'Night," Faith said without looking up.

"Aren't you hungry?" Andrew asked, slightly pleading.

"Not really." She wrinkled her nose again at Faith's snack. "Thanks for the cocoa though."

She went up the back stairs slowly, not realising Faith was watching her now in the same way Kennedy had watched Willow.

Faith slowly crunched up the chips in her mouth and then replaced the lid on the dip. She sat there for a moment staring into space and then pushed her chair back and stood.

"'Night Andy."

"No," he whined. "You can't be full already."

"No, but what am I gonna do," she said and walked swiftly through the kitchen door without looking back.

Andrew slumped against the kitchen counter for a moment before going to the pantry and staring dejectedly at the platters of sandwiches and Buffalo wings he'd prepared as a post-patrol surprise.

* * *

Buffy met Willow on the landing as the she was coming from the bathroom.

"You still feeling oogie?"

"Yeah." Willow nodded and tried to walk by her.

Buffy side-stepped to stop her. "I know you want to lie down, but just give me a second, please."

Willow sighed heavily, but waited.

"How long is this going to go on for, Will?"

"What?"

"You know what. Us barely speaking. I can't stand it."

"Neither can I," Willow admitted in a small voice.

"So why can't we just draw a line under it?" Buffy asked, ducking her head to meet her best friend's eyes.

"Because it's not that simple! You have the hots for Kennedy and I'm not over her yet. Until I am…"

Buffy caught her arm as she interrupted. "I do not have the hots for Kennedy, okay? That's ridiculous!"

"I know what I see!" Willow pulled her arm back.

"I'm in love with Faith!"

"Yeah, well I don't see that! A…and I bet she doesn't either. But I do see you and Kennedy all over each all the damn time."

"We're not all over each other!" Buffy snapped exasperated. "The only reason we spend any time together is because you and Faith won't give us the time of day."

"If you say so." Willow started for her bedroom again. "Sounds like a convenient lie to me though."

"Will!"

"Look, whatever, Buffy. If you and Kennedy want to get together I'll deal with it, okay, eventually. But not tonight and probably not this year… and you'll just have to deal with that."

"Willow!" Buffy said in a shouted whisper, but the bedroom door shut with no response. "Fine! You know what? I give up. But the real convenient lie here is you thinking there's something going on so you don't have to deal with leaving your girlfriend to be with your ex-boyfriend!"

Buffy waited, listening over her own heavy breathing, but there was still no response from Willow's room. Finally, with a snarl of frustration, she turned to go to her own room and came face to face with Faith. She stopped, staring at her, too angry at the moment to smile or say anything pleasant. So she bit her tongue and didn't say anything at all.

"You really believe that?" Faith asked quietly, gesturing Buffy away from Willow's door.

"About Oz? I don't know," Buffy said as she followed Faith down the hall. "But I definitely believe she's delusional. What are you doing on this side of the house anyway?"

Faith shrugged. "I heard the shouting. Wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"Well, its not, nothings okay." Buffy stopped outside her bedroom door and Faith stopped with her. "Do you think there's something going on between me and Kennedy?"

Faith looked at her feet for a beat or two before meeting her eyes again. "Not really, I guess. Think there could be if you wanted there to be though."

"I don't," she promised. "And there couldn't be either. Kennedy's as mad about Willow as I am about you."

Faith smiled but she said, "Gotta admit it doesn't look that way most of the time."

"Well it is that way." Buffy pushed her bedroom door open. "Wanna come in for five minutes and let me prove it," she added with a playful smile.

Faith's eyes lit up at the idea, but then she shook her head. "We got bigger problems than whether you want into Kennedy's pants."

"I don't!" Buffy insisted.

Faith held her eyes for a second before saying, "Still got those _bigger _problems though."

"Okay, so we'll talk about them," Buffy said hopefully.

"Don't think five minutes will be long enough."

"How's fifteen sound then?"

Faith chuckled softly and ran a hand through her hair. "My first shrink appointment is this week."

"Oh." This was news although it shouldn't have been. "Why didn't you didn't tell me?"

"Only found out myself a couple of days ago and we haven't exactly been talking much."

"You still should have told me."

"Its okay, B, you're not expected to be there or anything. According to Double D the first few are gonna be all about me anyway."

"I'm not worried about that," she said quickly.

Although she was and it was a relief to hear she wouldn't have to go to a session just yet. Faith could see right through her too and smiled knowingly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Buffy asked, nodding into her room.

"Not right now. I just wanted you to know."

Buffy nodded. "Okay, well if you don't want to talk about us now, maybe you will afterwards."

"Maybe. Probably." Faith shrugged. "I should go. Let you get to bed. That spell seems to have wiped everyone else out."

"Yeah, I am tired," she admitted. "But you can still come in for a while if you want."

Faith hesitated before asking, "Can I spend the night?"

Buffy hesitated also, wishing it felt right to say yes. "I don't, uh, know, like you said, we haven't exactly been, you know, with the talking or being all that friendly… so maybe we should…"

"S'okay, B." Faith held her hands up as she backed away a little. "When you're ready is fine."

"Okay," Buffy said softly, pleased to be let gently off the hook, but a little bothered that Faith was giving in so readily.

"So I guess I'll see you at breakfast," Faith said backing away some more but never dropping eye contact.

"Yeah. Don't you want your goodnight kiss first?" She blurted out before Faith could turn away. It was the first time she'd asked in two weeks.

"Yeah." Faith smiled. "Yeah, I really do." And then she turned and walked away down the hall.

Buffy gazed dreamily after her for a moment or two before going into her room and shutting the door as she grumbled, "Well, why didn't you come and get it then, you moron."

* * *

Kennedy eased the barn door open and entered as quietly as she could. Naomi was a motionless lump under her covers; she could hear her faint, muffled breathing even from the doorway. The other beds were all empty and neatly made for a change.

All three of the young slayers had gone home for the two week Thanksgiving break, even Alison who had declined vacation time in the past. It made the camp seem really quiet, but they were all making the most of it while it lasted. After the holiday not only would those three be back, they were expecting more Slayer-babies to join them as well. The fruits of Robin's and Giles' recruitment missions.

Also sometime before Christmas the next bunch of Watcher cadets were coming to stay for their two week selection period. Kennedy still hadn't gotten over the last lot yet.

She stripped quickly and pulled her warmest pajamas on. Xander had promised he'd have heat in here before the first snow fell, but if it was getting to the point where she was thinking of buying some thermal underwear to sleep in.

She didn't even bother brushing her hair before she slipped beneath the cold covers of her single bed. What was the point? There was no one in here to see it. Except Nai and she wouldn't care either way if it was stuck up and tangled in the morning.

Lying on her back she stared at the ceiling, knowing sleep wasn't around the corner for her. It had been hard sleeping sharing a bed with Willow those last few weeks, but not as hard as it was being in a bed without her.

She still wanted to put things right, work things out with her, but with every day that passed it was like they were drawing further apart. Sometimes, a lot of the time, she was sure it tore Willow up as much as her, but that didn't stop them from having the same dead arguments dispersed amongst the freezing silences.

It was getting to the point where Kennedy knew something had to drastically give or what they'd had was going to be lost forever. She was stubborn though, and still convinced she was in the right. And so was Willow.

So the question had to be – how did she get past that? How did she get Willow back fair and square so that the cause of their break up was no longer an issue?

There had to be a way.

* * *

Willow sat on her bed with her pre-bed stuff laid out on the comforter. She was still feeling dizzy, so standing was bad right now, but she was still going to moisturise her arms and face and brush her hair like normal. Just because she was all alone in their big bedroom now didn't mean she could slack off, right? Such slovenliness at bedtime might creep into other things and then where would she be? A big slovenly mess, that's where!

She finished squirting the white cream up her arms and capped the lotion bottle irritably. She had to stop thinking of it as their bedroom. It was her bedroom now and hanging on to the old terms wasn't helping. She felt a little guilty that it _was_ her bedroom. After all they'd broken up equally. Kennedy might have been the one to say the words, but she hadn't given her even a second to detract them. It had obviously been a mutual thing, even if it felt less than mutual to her most of the time, so it seemed a little unfair that she had automatically gotten to keep the room in the house and Kennedy had had to move into the dorm.

Although, she supposed it made sense. It was a Slayer dorm after all, and Kennedy was a Slayer. Still, it had felt a bit mean and presumptuous and like a way of pointing out that Kennedy wasn't really a part of the family after all.

And she totally was. It was just unfortunate that her free ride into the middle of the gang had come on Willow's shirt tails. But she had been here from the start. She and Willow had picked this room out together. Had chosen the new paint and stuff for it together after it had almost burned down.

Probably though, the loss of the room didn't mean that much to Kennedy. After all, she was still in the inner circle. Buffy made sure of that. With all their little training sessions and private talking sessions and secret slaying sessions… okay, maybe they weren't so secret, but was there a good reason why the two of them had to pair up all the damn time? Shouldn't Buffy want to pair with Faith instead?

Okay, she knew there was a good reason for that. Faith didn't seem to want to slay with Buffy at the moment, and besides, she was taking Alison out nearly every night and Giles would frown if Buffy tagged along. There were other newbie slayers that needed a big sister, though, so why did Buffy always seem to go with Kennedy?

Willow squirted some lotion into her hands ready to do her face and wished she could stop feeling sick for five minutes. Sure, she hadn't done much magic recently – she didn't feel centred enough, and she had a secret fear that this thing with Kennedy would tip her over the edge. It wasn't going to happen. Rationally she knew that. Plus, if it was, she would already be all veiny by now. So she was really just being wary of the big stuff, the stuff that might potentially pack a different punch than it was meant to if she happened to be thinking of Kennedy at the time.

The spell she had performed tonight though shouldn't have had any ill side effects. Even with the way it has lashed back at them like that it shouldn't have had the strength to knock them off of their feet, let alone all this residual yuckiness to boot. It must have been something in the demons that corrupted it. Or if Andrew was right about them not being particularly magical, then maybe something _on_ the demons. If they, or more likely something stronger, had the power to protect them magically, maybe that something had mixed a little something special in with it. Something that could take her magic and turn it into something else more nasty as it was deflected.

She had read through Andrew and Naomi's research too and nothing they had found out suggested the Meluthian Hedray's could do that, but maybe their cousins with the bigger brains could. Or maybe it was something or somebody else.

Ugh. It was all hurting her brain to think about it right now. It could wait until morning like Giles said. She finished rubbing in the last of the lotion and picked up her hair brush as her thoughts returned to Buffy and Kennedy.

She hated arguing with her best friend. It was just wrong. Some of her worst moments in the last seven years had been when she was on the outs with Buffy. What she hated more though was the thought of Buffy and Kennedy getting along when she and Kennedy could barely stand to look at each other. How was that fair? She liked to think she was too mature for jealousy of that nature, but… she obviously wasn't! And that just added to her annoyance.

Surely if Buffy was really her friend she wouldn't be quite so pally with her ex when she knew it burned Willow up inside? It would help - in a totally selfish way, but still – if Buffy and Faith were getting along as well as she and Kennedy weren't, but that wasn't the case. Okay, so they weren't exactly a happy couple right now, far from it, but they were both still hanging in there even if it was from opposite sides of the house.

They acted more like casual acquaintances with a secret crush most of the time, than a couple who had already declared love for each other six months ago, but at least they both knew they were vaguely on the same wavelength.

It felt like she and Kennedy had even lost that much. Even casual conversation was a thing of the past for them. Being in the same room was awkward, the same conversation more so. They couldn't even act professional any more when it came to work stuff, although at least you could say the same for Buffy and Faith on that score, but theirs was more a battle of Slayer wills and she and Kennedy didn't have that excuse.

Shakily she got up from the bed to take the lotion and brush back to her dressing table. If Kennedy was here, she would have done it for her, and then she would have tucked her in too. Just another reason why it sucked that they had broken up.

She missed her so much, all the time, which seemed stupid when they lived in the same house. Why couldn't they just work things out? Why couldn't they just be together again? She had known she was falling for her seriously before all this had happened, but it had taken the last few weeks of distance to point out just how much. And now it seemed too late to fix it. Kennedy was obviously, if not happy, then resigned to things as they were now. She had made no move to try and change things anyway. Neither had she, she knew, but she hadn't been the one to mess things up in the first place.

She wanted to get past that way of thinking – it wasn't helping anyone that was for sure – but she needed something from Kennedy first, something that made her sure putting their difference of opinion behind them was the right thing to do.

She flicked her bedside light on before putting the stuff back and then turned the overhead light off before she made her way back to the bed. Halfway there a sneeze took her by surprise.

"Oh please don't tell me I'm getting sick on top of… hang on a good darn minute!"

She looked about herself with uneasiness and then patted the comforter that was smoothed over her legs. She was pretty sure – as in absolutely – that she hadn't gotten into bed yet, and here she was, all tucked up like her Mom had paid a visit.

It was nice though, and she felt herself relaxing into the bed immediately. She was so tired and ughy feeling and the sheets felt cool against her too warm skin. It would have been nicer if she hadn't been alone, but that was something else she could deal with in the morning. Right now, she just wanted to turn her light off and go to sleep.

She sneezed again so abruptly that she didn't even get her hands over her nose in time. As the fuzzy-sneeze feeling subsided her eyes went wide. Her room was in darkness and she was comfortably on her side, but she couldn't remember accomplishing either task on her own.

"Okay… this is weird."

_[Tbc...]_


	3. act 1:2

Hi everyone. Thanks for the wonderful reviews for the last part and sorry I'm being slack with the updating. Not to give a bunch of excuses, but time just doesn't seem to stretch as far as usual at the moment. This is a shortish bit, but I **promise** to get the rest of act 1 up here by the end of the month :).

* * *

A couple of days later, Buffy was sitting at the kitchen table with Dawn. They'd made up their fight eventually, with both parties giving a little. Dawn had promised to take the younger members of the camp into consideration when it came to physical displays of affection and Buffy had tentatively agreed to let her get on with it with Reece.

After all, they'd already had sex. The worst that could happen now was pregnancy or sex diseases and Buffy decided she would feel a lot more comfortable with either worry if Dawn knew she could come to her without a lecture.

Naturally, the lecture would happen, but Dawn not knowing that was of the good. So they had made up, neither had broken their agreement yet, and all was right with the Summers sisters once more.

Mostly.

"I just don't get why you want me to go."

"I don't want you to go," Buffy said without looking up from the list she was making. "I just think you should."

"But you're not going," Dawn pointed out in frustration.

Buffy grit her teeth before answering. "Dad didn't ask me."

"He did! He said you can come along too."

"Yeah, as an afterthought." Buffy finally looked up. "I don't need a pity-dad-date thank you very much."

"He just… He doesn't know you're a Slayer. So… he just thinks you're a little weird," Dawn winced in apology.

"Great. Thanks. I'm weird and my Dad doesn't know how to relate to me so he just forgets I'm his first born."

"It's not like that. He hasn't forgotten about you!"

"No, he just acts like it." Buffy went back to her list.

"Mom thought you were weird before she knew."

"Yes, but she still loved me unconditionally."

"She threw you out!"

Buffy looked up again, glaring.

"Well she did. And then you told her and she got used to it. Maybe you should tell Dad."

"I don't think so, Dawn."

"Why not?"

"Because then it wouldn't be a secret identity." Buffy added sage and onions to her list.

"Like it's that anymore anyway," Dawn scoffed.

"It is!" Buffy looked up again. "Mom was used to further the cause of evil more than once, you too, but at least I was here to protect you both. Unless Dad moves to Cleveland I can't do the same for him so its better he never finds out about me. Or what we do here," she added, making sure Dawn got the point.

"I'm not gonna tell! I never have before, have I?"

"No, but you've never been quite so involved before either. Speaking of, did you do the follow up on the Sekopiluthian Hedray's Giles asked for?"

"Yes, Buffy. It's bad enough you check I do my homework, you don't have to check up on my extra curricula's too."

"Just checking you hadn't forgotten."

"I hadn't. I like doing this stuff."

Buffy smiled at her. "Cool, although a little disturbing. Do you think sweet potato mash, roasted potatoes and tater tots are too many carbs for one sitting? Factoring in the yams and the rolls too, I mean?"

"Well you're cooking for a bunch of slayers. You'll burn them off as soon as you stretch."

"No, there are more non-slayers than slayers." Buffy counted off on her fingers. "Giles, Will, Xander, Craig."

Dawn shook her head. "Craig's going with Andrew to meet his family. Didn't they tell you?"

"No. Does Andrew's family know?"

"I think Craig's going to help him come out."

Buffy chuckled. "Okay, well now I know what I'm giving thanks for."

She looked up as the back door opened and smiled as Naomi came in ahead of Reece.

"Okay, we're ready." Naomi gave her a broad smile back. "Where's Uncle Rubear?"

"He'll be down in a bit." Buffy added something else to her list. "Are you looking forward to the break?"

"Very much." Naomi sat at the table next to her. "I love it here, but I do miss my parents."

"Me too," Buffy muttered to herself.

"What have you got there?" Naomi asked next.

Buffy separated the pieces of paper in front of her.

"This is my shopping list and this…" she waved another sheet around before turning it face down on the table top. "…Is my Mom's secret recipe for turkey."

"There's a secret recipe for cooking a turkey?" Reece asked as he poured himself the last of the coffee in the pot.

"Well I guess it's not really that secret," Buffy said amiably – she was trying for Dawn's sake. "But my Mom used to make a really great turkey and I thought if I kept it a secret from now on it would be something to pass down to my kids – like a family tradition."

"I think that's a great idea," Naomi said.

"Me too." Dawn nodded, giving her sister a smile.

"So who is going to have the kids? You or Faith?" Reece's tone was a little too smug to be genuine curiosity.

"That's none of your business," Naomi said.

"Yeah." Dawn stood up, sliding her arms around his shoulders as she grinned at him. "Mind your beeswax."

Buffy was barely listening. Reece's question had caught her off guard. Which was stupid. It wasn't like she had ever really thought about children before. She had, once upon a time, but Angel's vampireiness had quashed any hope as far as she had been concerned then and she had never really thought about the prospect since. She'd always assumed, since Angel, that if she did want children one day it would sort itself out.

That was a pretty vain hope now she was with Faith. Not that she was really _with _Faith, but she wanted to be, and couldn't imagine being with anyone else. Was this something they should talk about or was it better left unmentioned for a while?

Kennedy came through the back door in mussed workout sweats, said a general hi and went to the fridge for a bottle of water. Buffy glanced up as she came back to the table and took a seat at the end.

"What'cha got there?"

Buffy went through the same explanation as before – without the for-my-kids part.

"I was wondering if we were doing anything special. I missed out on Thanksgiving last year."

"Why's that?" Naomi asked.

"Running for my life." Kennedy shrugged. "It'd be nice to do something this year. If anyone has a lot to be thankful for its us. True, we have a lot to unthankful for too, but still." She winked at Buffy; making her smile.

Giles came into the room next and Dawn reluctantly removed herself from Reece's lips.

"Are we ready?"

They both nodded.

"Our bags are already in the truck, sir."

"Good."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Dawn asked Reece, her arms still around his neck. "You've never had a proper Thanksgiving before."

"Maybe next year," he said, gently prying her off and taking her hand.

Good luck getting her to let go of that again. Buffy stood up with Naomi and gave her a brief hug.

"Don't forget to come back, okay?"

"I'm already looking forward to it." Naomi assured her as she followed the others out.

Kennedy called after them. "Safe trip, guys."

No sooner had the back door shut, Xander was coming through the swing door. "They gone?"

"Yep."

"Thank God! Two weeks of peace and quiet. Does that make me sound old? You know what? I don't even care if it does. Peace and quiet trumps getting old, wouldn't you say, Buff?"

She looked up just long enough to smile. There was no awkwardness between her and Xander. At least there was no reason for there to be. They still got along. Still hung out when they weren't too busy, but there was always that underlying feeling that they were a twosome when they should be a threesome. She honestly couldn't tell if Xander felt it too, but she was pretty sure if he didn't it was only because he was so far down in the dumps already that he couldn't even tell that things were worse now.

Buffy hadn't brought it up, she wanted to, but she didn't really see the point just at the minute. He and Willow had to make the first step first. Or maybe her and Willow. Willow was definitely the link. Until then, she and Xander might as well just keep on getting along as best as they could.

"Buffy's planning Thanksgiving," Kennedy told him as he sat at the table.

"Why bother. There's only going to be us here."

"Thanks for your enthusiasm," Buffy said.

He shrugged. "Sorry."

She sighed. His attitude was hardly a surprise. He'd sunk further down the happy scale since his argument with Willow and rarely came alive about anything but work. Giles had quietly mentioned Willow's idea of therapy and while she thought it might well be needed, she was wary of it. Two close friends in therapy at the same time might be more than she could deal with emotionally. If Xander had actually agreed to it, she would obviously be less selfish-gal, more supporto-gal, but so far he had done nothing but fight against the idea.

Buffy was thinking about asking Faith to talk to him, but not until after her first few sessions. No point piling the pressure on. Plus if it turned out it wasn't helping Faith, then there was no point encouraging Xander to go.

Think of the devil and Faith came through the back door, also sweaty from running. She looked way more delicious than Kennedy did though. Buffy was instantly all smiles, she couldn't help it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kennedy smirking at her but studiously ignored it.

"Where've you been?" she asked.

"Here, there and everywhere." She gave Buffy a bright smile in return as she went looking for coffee. Finding the pot empty, she groaned. "Where's the maid?"

"Packing and turning our room upside down in the process last time I saw him," said Xander.

"Well he should be down here when I want coffee," Faith grumbled.

"Do you want me to make you some?" Buffy was already rising from her chair.

"Nah, I'll do it. You look busy."

Buffy sank back down. "I'm just planning the meal for next Thursday. Do you have any special requests?"

"Why would I have any special requests for next Thursday's dinner?" Faith asked, distracted as she made the coffee.

Kennedy rolled her eyes. "It's Thanksgiving."

"It is?" Faith looked up. "Oh, well, in that case, lemme see. Last year I think I had turkey stew and mashed potatoes – I'd rather not ever have to have it again though. The year before was turkey and yam burgers and mashed potatoes – they actually weren't too bad, you know, aside from the stale buns and the mashed potato. The year before that…"

As Faith paused to remember, Kennedy cut in.

"Okay, we get it; your last few Thanksgiving's have sucked. Poor you."

"Well, it was prison. What did you expect?" Xander asked. "Mouth-watering roast turkey, cranberry sauce and chilled white wine?"

"Guys." Buffy muttered warningly.

Faith heard her and chuckled. Leaving the coffee machine to do its bubbling thing she came to stand at the opposite end of the table to Kennedy.

"Actually we had wine. Well, lock-up moonshine anyway. Better'n wine." She grinned. "Even helped you forget about the mashed potato."

"What about before prison?" Buffy asked.

Faith gave her a look that said 'Are you kidding me?' but answered anyway as she counted years backwards on her fingers.

"Coma. Happy burger meal in my motel room. The year before I was with my Watcher, who was English so not big on Thanksgiving. We did try and cook a pumpkin pie between us though. Before that I was with my Mom and she couldn't cook for shit so she never even bothered trying to do the big dinner thing…"

Faith trailed off with a strangely nostalgic look that made all of them a little uncomfortable. She seemed to realise and cleared her throat.

"So you're cooking this year, B? Are you sure that's safe? I don't wanna spend my first proper Thanksgiving in the hospital, ya know?"

Buffy gave her a mock glare. "This is the one meal I know I can cook, but keep up that attitude and I'll call the prison for that turkey stew recipe just for you."

Faith just grinned and went back to the coffee.

"So, do you need any help?" Kennedy asked.

"Yeah, she'll need someone to talk her down from the ledge when the stuffing won't stuff and the gravy goes lumpy," Xander mustered a smile.

Buffy grinned at him. "Watch it, or you're getting turkey stew too. Hey, I know what'll make it really special. Why don't we all put in a secret family recipe and then they can be _our_ secret family recipes."

"That's lame," Faith said from the other side of the counter.

"You're only saying that because you don't have one," Kennedy shot back on Buffy's behalf. "I think it's a good idea. My Mom makes an awesome Roasted Calabaza…" Seeing everyone's blank looks, she rolled her eyes again. "…I'll call her and write down the recipe."

Buffy smiled. "Thanks. Xander, do you have one?"

Okay, that had been the wrong thing to say. His eyes went to the table top, but even still she could see his hard expression.

"Make everything as you normally would and just add a litre of scotch and gin."

Apparently gone were the days he could make light of his parents lack of any actual parenting skills.

Willow came down the back stairs; saving her from having to respond.

"Hi guys," she said neutrally and it looked like she was going to head straight on through to her magic room.

"Willow, wait." At Kennedy's voice Willow did stop – instantly – and turned to face her, but her expression remained disinterested. ""Buff's making a list of our favourite family Thanksgiving recipes. Do you have one?"

"Oh no," Buffy and Xander muttered at the same time. Faith, just coming back with her coffee, looked up with interest.

Willow turned a resigned look on Buffy. "You're making Thanksgiving again? Didn't you learn your lesson last time? And you!" She turned to Xander. "Did the syphilis really make it a warm, fuzzy memory that you want to relive."

Xander held his hands up in surrender. "Hey, don't get shouty with me. This is all Buffy's idea. Again."

Buffy glared at him. "Way to cover me in meat sauce and leave me to the wolves!" To Willow, she said. "It's not going to be exactly like last time."

"Oh, what a shame. Why don't we go a-and do some desecratey dancing on the Anashew Reservation. Maybe we can bring back some old friends to join in the party. Won't that be fun?"

"Ya done?" Faith asked when Willow had to take a breath. "What's with the meltdown? I thought Thanksgiving was supposed to be a good thing." She sat in the seat between Buffy and Kennedy. "Kinda thing your type like, ya know?"

"My type?" Willow asked sarcastically and Buffy felt pleased the attention was off of her for a minute and sorry it was on Faith all at the same time. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh, nothing," Faith replied, genuinely confused. "I was just saying…"

"Wicca types? Is that what you mean?" Willow cut her off. "You think I get off on the ritual sacrifice of innocent beasts? Is that it?"

"Uh, no." Faith's eyes were wide with surprise but she didn't look around for help like Buffy would have done. "I just meant…"

"Oh, so you're taking a pot shot at the hippy lesbian thing right?" Willow asked, even madder for some reason.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing," Faith said sarcastically and before Buffy knew what was happening she was pulled into a deep, tongue-filled kiss. It only lasted a handful of seconds before Faith pulled away again just as abruptly. "I'm taking a pot-shot at the lesbian thing because I obviously have such a problem with it."

"I said the hippy lesbian thing," Willow said, her tone weaker now. "Because of all the peace and love and harmony and stuff. Which for the record, Thanksgiving is not about."

"Actually it is," Kennedy spoke up.

"No it's not." Willow turned on her ex now.

Buffy was still seeing stars and gazing dreamily at Faith, only vaguely aware of the turn the conversation was taking.

"Yes it is. The white man fucked up big time when he came here, but you can't say the pilgrims who took the time to sit down and break bread with the Indians didn't at least have their hearts in the right place."

"We say Native American now," Willow said harshly.

"Maybe you do, but maybe you should just say Americans and call yourselves Immigrant-Americans."

"Look at the little fish getting on her high horse," Faith said with a grin, but she sounded more impressed than sarcastic.

"I'm not, but my grandfather called himself a Mexican Indian and far as I know he never had a problem with the name. So why should I? And his great-great-grandfather owned land in New Mexico a couple of hundred years ago and got kicked out and driven south by _Immigrant-Americans _after the war, but that's never stopped my Mom from celebrating Thanksgiving every single year I can remember."

"But the atrocities!" Willow sounded less sure of herself.

"Were really bad." Kennedy agreed. "But all the people who committed them are dead already and probably getting tortured deep in some hell dimension. They can't even feel you still thrashing them so why ruin the opportunity of a good meal."

"See, you lost it at the end there," Xander smiled. "You should have said why ruin the opportunity to spread the peace and love – it would have cemented your argument a little better."

Kennedy smiled back. "Well, obviously I meant that too."

"Okay, fine, I concede." Willow grumpily sat down between Xander and Kennedy. "But just so you know, I'm still against it on principal."

"We know!" Xander said.

Willow gave him a hurt look and continued, "And when we start getting _Mexican Indian_ spirits throwing knives at us in the middle of dinner; I'm going to say I told you so."

"We're in Cleveland," Xander pointed out.

"So? They could take a vacation." Willow tried smiling at him, but he just turned his head away.

Buffy felt a little of the happy-hit from the kiss seep away.

"So we're all on board with the meal now?" she asked.

"Yeah, sounds like a blast," Faith winked at her. "My secret recipe will be the pumpkin pie. Can't promise it'll be edible though."

"I'll call my Mom this evening." Kennedy offered.

Xander's fingers drummed the table for a moment. "My Mom could make a mean honey'd yam when I was little if that'll count."

"That sounds exactly like it'll count." Buffy smiled. "Will?"

"My Mom is to Thanksgiving what the Grinch is to Christmas – without the happy ending. But…" Willow drew the word out with a sigh. "I know her Latkes recipe like the back of my hand and its potato so it wouldn't be out of place with the turkey and stuff."

Buffy frowned, looking at her list. "Okay, we're definitely having those, but that means I have four types of potato down here. Before I start cooking we'll have to vote one of the others out of the house." She made a note of Willow's dish. "So you all just have to have the recipes to me by say… next Tuesday so I can do the shop for ingredients, and then you have to be on hand on the day in case any of them go wrong on me."

"Hang on," Faith said. "Our secret recipes get a whole lot less secret once you have them."

Humouring her, Buffy put one hand across her chest like she was taking the Pledge of Allegiance.

"I swear to keep your recipes to myself and never breathe a word of them to anyone else and only bring them out once a year for Thanksgiving. Feel better?" She smirked at Faith.

"I guess.

"What if you lose them?" Kennedy asked. "That's all our Thanksgivings down the pan in one go."

Buffy shook her head at their lack of confidence in her. "How am I going to lose them?"

* * *

The kitchen was emptier now. Faith was working somewhere. Buffy and Dawn had gone to Cleveland, shopping for Dawn's stay with Mr Summers. It didn't feel any less uncomfortable to Willow's sensitive self.

Kennedy was playing a game of solitaire on the table and ignoring her. Xander had some files on the table and was going through them correcting prices and order amounts, also ignoring her.

Willow sat between them trying to eat her lunch. Difficult with the way the heavy tension was blocking her throat.

Finally giving up, she grabbed her plate of cheese and cucumber sandwiches. Maybe she could eat in peace in her magic room. Before she actually made it away from the table the phone rang.

"Probably the guy about the snow tires," Xander said, getting up to answer the call.

Kennedy didn't look up. Willow wasn't interested either but she dawdled between the table and her room. If it was about the extreme weather tires Xander might be excited enough to talk to her about them afterwards.

Things weren't any better between them. Despite Giles assurance that he just needed time to get over her outburst, it had been nearly three weeks and, if anything, things were worse. He was never rude to her, as such. A little abrupt at times, or, okay, all the time. It was just a glitch though, right? It had to be. They had been friends too long and through too much to let one little frustrated truth-telling session end their friendship.

It wasn't like Xander hadn't been brutally honest with her about stuff in the past. Like the time Oz had left her and she'd hit a downward spiral for a month or so. He hadn't exactly pulled a lot of his punches then, had he?

She had to assume – or hope at least – that this longer than usual bout of unfriendliness between them came more from his perpetual bad mood than what she had actually said.

"Yeah, she's here. I'll get her."

Willow looked up. The previous parts of Xander's phone conversation had escaped her because she hadn't been listening, but now he was looking straight at her and holding the phone out.

"Who is it?"

"Oz."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kennedy look up and turned to her before looking back at Xander.

"What does he want?"

"First guess, to talk to you."

She had avoided speaking to Oz in the last couple of weeks unless he'd come to the camp for stuff. And only then if she couldn't run away before he saw her. It wasn't even that she didn't want to see him, but it felt awkward now… now that she knew he apparently still _liked_ her.

"Tell him I'm not here."

"No."

"Please?"

She breathed a sigh of relief as he put the phone back to his ear.

"She's just coming," he said and then covered the mouthpiece. "You can't keep avoiding him, hoping he'll go away." He spared Kennedy a glance. "You have to give him an answer sooner or later."

"Answer to what?" Kennedy asked.

"Nothing. He hasn't even asked me any questions."

"Don't worry. Only a matter of time I'm sure," Kennedy muttered as she went back to her card game.

Willow glared at the top of her head. Why was she so worried if that was Kennedy's attitude anyway? She glared at Xander next for putting her in this situation. Letting her plate clatter to the table top, she took the phone from him.

"Hey, Oz," she said, faking cheer. "What did you need?"

As he explained he just wanted to catch up she felt a sneeze coming on. Her eyes watered and she waved a hand under her nose to try and keep it at bay.

"I've just been really busy, you know?" she said. "Always something going on around here."

She listened as he asked her to meet up later just to touch base, her nose tingling uncomfortably all the time.

"I don't know. It's not that I wouldn't like to catch up…" she saw Kennedy look over again. "…but I think we should probably… probably… probab…"

She sneezed a tremendous sneeze. So violent it took her a second to get her bearings back. They weren't what she expected.

It was dark, dusty and cold and there was a half inflated dinghy pressed into her knees.

She was in the basement with the phone still in her hand.

"Hello?" she said uncertainly.

It was completely dead. She held it out and then followed the cord downwards. It's severed end dangled at floor level.

"Oops."

* * *

"What the hell, Willow?" Xander demanded as Willow came back up through the basement door. "If ya really didn't want to speak to him couldn't you have just hung up?"

"I-I didn't mean to do it."

Willow sounded sincere but he ignored her. Storming over, he snatched the useless phone receiver from her to inspect it. Not that all the inspecting in the world would do any good. The cord was snapped clean in two.

"I'm sorry, Xander."

"How could you not mean to do it? What did you think was going to happen when you teleported on the telephone?"

"I didn't teleport! I just sneezed!"

"Oh yeah, like I'm going to believe that?" He shook his head.

"Maybe she's telling the truth," Kennedy suggested.

She was still sitting at the table, looking up with big-eyed surprise since Willow disappeared.

"_Maybe _I'm telling the truth?" Willow rounded on her, sounding hurt and annoyed.

Kennedy shrugged.

Xander threw up a hand in Kennedy's direction. "Stay out of it."

"Stay out of it? Like a broken phone is some big thing between you and Willow? We all use it."

She had him there. This may have been about more than phone. But he didn't have to admit that and it didn't mean the phone wasn't still a valid thing to get angry about.

"Fine, don't stay out of it!" he said before turning to Willow again. "You sneeze all the time…"

"I don't sneeze all the time!"

"Well, you sneeze as much as the rest of us and you've never disappeared before! At least not until you have to face something you don't want to. You can't tell me that's a coincidence."

"It is a coincidence," Willow insisted. "At least I think so. I don't really know what happened."

"Are you okay?" Kennedy asked.

"I think so. A little confused maybe."

"_A little confused maybe?" _Xander repeated. "That doesn't sound like the sound of someone who just magicked themselves unintentionally to a different place to me. I'm thinking you'd be lot confused."

"Well, I am," Willow said.

"Yeah, right. Well, whether you meant to do it or not, you don't have to worry about Oz calling again any time soon because we no longer have anything for him to call you on."

He threw the handset and it landed on the table top with a sharp thud.

"So I'll get us a new one," Willow griped and walked through to her magic room.

"Yeah, that sounds like the tone of an innocent woman," Xander called after her.

"What is your problem?" Kennedy resumed her game of Solitaire. "It's just a phone and we all have cells anyway. Faith caused a big hole in the ceiling a few weeks ago and you didn't make this much fuss."

Xander sighed and turned away.

He wasn't mad about the phone. Or, okay, a little mad because he was the one who was going to have to sort out getting them a new one, but mostly he was just mad because Willow had done it.

He was mad these days when Willow did anything. He didn't even know why? Except, of course, that she had been a bit more home-truthy recently than he was happy about. But that was nothing. Honestly. He respected her for laying it on the line – even if she was barking up the wrong line altogether. He'd been as blunt with her in the past – true, he'd been a little nicer about it. He hoped.

The thing was, if your best friends couldn't hit you with a true ugly to get you through the tough times, who could? Only Willow had only done it to get _her_ through the tough times – the tough Xander times – and that just made him… irritable.

It wasn't like he had asked for her help. He was working through this in his own way just fine. So was it a crime to get mad when she foisted it upon him anyway? Willow wanted his grief and anger neatly packed away so she could move on from it without feeling guilty, but sorry, he couldn't go dark and evil and Magicky and threaten to destroy the world as a means of cathartic release; coming out the other side a better person in just a few short months.

He had to do it the hard way and was being left alone to get on with it really so much to ask.


	4. Act 1:3

Thanks for the reviews. Here's the next bit. On track for getting the rest of this act posted by the end of the week *fingers crossed*

* * *

"She'll be fine, Buffy," Giles promised as they exited the car together a couple of days later.

"I know she'll be fine," Buffy replied grumpily. "Dawn's always fine. Doesn't matter what you throw at her, give her a day or two and she's right back to Little Miss Bouncy Full-of-Beans."

Giles looked at her curiously as they walked to the back door.

"Too harsh?" she asked.

He smiled gently. "Not harsh, no, just a little… enthusiastic perhaps?"

She smiled back. "You know I love my sister, right?"

He nodded. She stopped yards from the back door and, sensing her need to talk, he followed suit.

"Let's just say sometimes I wish she was the Slayer and I was the little kid, that's all. Then maybe I wouldn't always feel like I'm bashing my head against a brick wall trying to get through to her _and_ I'd be the one on a plane right now going to see my Dad."

Giles sighed. "This is about her visit to your Father? You encouraged her, and rightly so. Are you regretting that now?"

"No."

"You know she wouldn't have gone without your consent."

"I know. That's what the encouraging was about." Buffy sighed.

"You miss him greatly, don't you?"

The question sort of surprised her. She and Giles had been close for years, some closer than others true, but he probably knew her better than almost anyone, but they had still never had a conversation about this.

"Honestly, yeah, but not like a lot. I've been used to him being gone for a while now. It's just… these past few weeks it's been all family family family around here. The new slayers didn't stop talking about their trips home for a week before they left, and then Naomi was saying about how much she can't wait to see her folks. Andrew's taking Craig home to meet his parents. Even Reece gushed about his Mom for a full three minutes the other day!" Buffy shook her head ruefully. "I guess it's just a very family orientated time – start of the holiday season and all that – and with our family so divided… its making me nostalgic for my Mom and Dad's little Thanksgiving fight nights."

She accepted Giles' comforting arm around her shoulders for a moment or two, but then gently stepped away and gave him a brighter smile.

"It's okay though. I think with the way these years going, we'll soon have our own fight night tradition…and with really good food."

"I'm sure it will be wonderful." Smiling, he followed her into the house.

Willow and Faith were in the kitchen together. They still got along fine. Or at least as fine as they had before. Willow was sat at the table and Faith was perched on the edge next to her with a compact, applying lipstick.

"B." Faith greeted without looking over.

Willow chose a more enthusiastic route. "Hi Giles!"

Buffy and Giles looked at each other and shared an almost-smirk.

"Hello, Willow." He nodded to her. "It's nice to be greeted so cheerfully, but I don't believe I entered the kitchen alone."

"You didn't?" Willow asked innocently.

Buffy rolled her eyes.

Giles turned to her with a sympathetic smile. "I tried."

"You did." She nodded.

"Faith. You look very nice."

She smiled at him, surprised. "Thanks. Going to Barnies. Need a break from all this wholesome living, ya know? Wanna join me for a little debauchery?"

A little colour came to his cheeks as he declined politely and left the room.

"His loss." Faith grinned as she capped the lipstick. She turned her face this way and that, checking herself out in the tiny mirror. "What about you, Red? Changed your mind? Fancy a night on the town?"

"I already told you. I have to get this done for Oz," Willow said without looking up. "Have fun though."

Buffy stood there, still by the back door, waiting for her impromptu invite. It didn't come.

Faith stood to fetch her coat from the kitchen closet. It was cold now at night. It was cold here during the day too, but not like it was once it was dark. It was a bitter cold Buffy had never had the misfortune to experience yet and she couldn't help but wonder what she'd done wrong in her years of fighting evil to have to experience it now.

When Faith was standing just a few feet from her again as she put her coat on, Buffy fidgeted awkwardly.

"I…I could come with you," she said after a while. "You know, if you wanted."

Faith froze as she fastened her buttons. "I didn't think you'd want to."

"Why not? I like Barnies. I've been there more than you."

"I just… well…" Faith trailed off for a second or two. "I've been working my ass off all day, B, I don't think I have the energy for a date, ya know?"

Buffy now felt as flustered as Faith sounded. "I didn't mean a date. I'm not look for a date or anything. I just thought..."

They stared at each other, both looking as uncomfortable as it was possible to be.

"I guess you can come if you want."

"But you'd prefer it if I didn't," Buffy said quietly.

There was a long pause where they held each others eyes.

Faith broke it by shaking her head. "No, that's not what I'd prefer, but…"

The but sealed it for Buffy. She wasn't laying herself on the line for too long at any one time.

"Never mind. Forget it. Have fun." She forced a smile out.

Faith sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Look, B, you can come if you really want to."

"Great, another pity invitation. I've already had one more of those than I can handle this week." Now Faith looked doubly pained. "I'm joking," she lied. "I have stuff to do anyway. You can go. No fall out, I promise."

Faith looked sceptical for a moment, but then finished buttoning her coat. Job done, she gave Willow – who was watching the whole exchange with undisguised interest – a little goodbye wave and then walked right up to – and then into – Buffy.

Before she could ask what Faith thought she was doing it was made clear. Faith's lips literally hit hers and strong arms went around her waist pulling her closer. Despite the slightly painful beginning Buffy kissed her back eagerly; surprised but too pleased to miss a beat.

Faith pulled away far too soon and was walking to the door before Buffy had even gotten her breath back.

"See you tomorrow, babe," she called back before disappearing out the door.

"Yeah," Buffy breathed, smiling stupidly at the door until Willow cleared her throat.

She looked over still with a goofy smile.

"Wish my girlfriend was mad at me that way," Willow muttered before going back to her books.

Buffy chuckled softly and went to sit opposite at her. When Willow didn't immediately get up and disappear she counted it a victory.

"Believe me; I don't really know how Faith is mad at me most of the time. It seems to change day by day. One minute its frosty silence the next its aggressive kisses."

Willow didn't look up. "Yeah, I'm sure they suck."

Buffy rubbed at her front teeth; they still felt a little jarred from Faith's initial lunge.

"My dentist is probably going to think so. "

"Did Dawn get off okay?"

Buffy sighed. "Yeah."

"Dad thing bothering you, huh?"

"A little. What about you? No plans to see your folks over Thanksgiving?"

"They're in Europe."

"Oh right, you said. Until February."

Willow nodded.

"I'm surprised Kennedy didn't decide to go home."

As she said it, Buffy wished she hadn't chosen any topic involving the other slayer. It was a wonder Willow was talking to her even kinda amiably, why did she have to go and screw it up so fast?

To her surprise, Willow just shrugged. "We always planned to spend Thanksgiving here. We're… She's going to her parents for Christmas."

Buffy physically felt the pain in Willow's words and for a second couldn't respond. Even when she could, she didn't know how to.

"Well, you just called her your girlfriend a minute ago," she began cautiously. "Do you think there's a chance you'll make it up, maybe even in time to still go with her?"

Willow spared her a glance. "You tell me. You're the one she confides in these days."

Buffy ignored the sarcasm. "But is that what you want."

Willow shrugged again.

"Do you want her to still be your girlfriend?" Buffy pushed.

"What I want is to not talk to you about this anymore," Willow half-shouted as she looked up with a furious glare. "Can't you just respect that?"

Buffy held her hands up in surrender. "Consider it respected." She studied her thumbnails for beat before looking up again and saying in a rush: "I just thought if you could admit that it might be what you actually still want it might be easier for you to get it back… or something."

The glare she received this time was even angrier, but Willow didn't bother saying anything. Buffy hoped it was because her best friend was actually considering her words, but she wasn't about to push her luck any more by checking.

She looked down at the open books in front of Willow. One had Oz's tiny scribbly rocket scientist's-handwriting and the other was Willow's much looser and curvier script.

"What'cha doing?"

"It's Oz's Werewolf Handbook. He thought we should have a copy."

"There's a Werewolf Handbook?" Buffy asked with a surprised little laugh. "How come I didn't know about it before?"

"Partly because you wouldn't have read it if you had…"

"Hey, I might have read it. I like Werewolves, not in the way you like them, sure, but they're more interesting than, say, Zombies."

"Really? Did you ever get around to reading the Slayer Handbook?"

"Well, no, but I am a Slayer. If I want to know how a part of me works, I can learn by doing, you know? I can't learn by doing Werewolf stuff. Well, I suppose I could try. I could sit up on the roof tonight and howl at the moon for a few hours. Get some Wolfy insights that way."

"It's not a full moon," Willow pointed out, but she cracked her frowny-face with a very small, obviously unwelcome but still-there, smile.

"No matter. It could be like my practise moon." Buffy smiled back. "You said partly. What's the other part?"

"There was only one copy in the world before now and Oz had it."

"Oh, wow, that was lucky then. How did he come to get it?"

Willow smiled properly now and her voice took a note of pride. "He wrote it."

Buffy nodded. "Impressive."

"Well, it started out as just a diary or… or a journal of the places he was going and the people he met up with and the advice they gave him. Just so he had a record of what he had already tried and what worked and stuff. By the time he'd settled in Cleveland he'd filled up a whole book." She tapped it with her finger tips. "He showed it to Giles and Giles convinced him in his Watcherly wisdom that it was too valuable to not have a copy of so he agreed to let us make another."

"Makes sense, but wouldn't it be easier to just scan it into the computer?"

"Yes. Much. And I suggested that, but they ganged up on me and said it had to be done the old fashioned way." Willow let go of her pen for a moment and stretched her fingers out as if just talking about it was enough to make them ache with the strain. "I think Giles would have been even happier if I was sitting here with a quill instead of something so modern as a fountain pen."

"Well, it's a good idea and you do have nice handwriting," Buffy complimented.

Willow nodded her thanks and went back to her copying.

The kitchen fell quiet apart from the scratch of nib on paper. Buffy lowered her chin to her crossed arms and followed the path of the wet black ink across the white page. It was actually peaceful. Something that was too rare in this house generally, but more than that, peace wasn't something she and Willow shared at all recently.

She tilted her head a little and ran the fingers of one hand over the pocked, polished surface of the table in a lazy movement and stupidly let the serene moment lull her falsely.

"What are we going to do about Xander?"

Willow looked up at his name but just as quickly looked down again.

"What do you mean we? He's not mad at you."

"Well, no, but surely if _you_ can forgive _me?_" She smiled hopefully. "He'll forgive you and then…"

"He's not mad at me because I'm mad at you."

"No, I know, but…"

"And I haven't forgiven you."

"I…I know that too, but…"

"I don't have to forgive you," Willow ranted.

Buffy slumped in her chair. "I guess not, but it would be nice."

"No, I mean, there's nothing to forgive. You were just being a friend. To Kennedy. I get that."

"Oh," Buffy said surprised. "Good. We're okay now then?"

"No!" Willow's shout made Buffy sit back in her chair, eyebrows up. "You don't get it. You never get it."

"Then explain it!"

"I shouldn't have too. We've been friends for eight years, Buffy. Best friends supposedly! So why do you never treat me like it? I've always just been good old, predicable Willow. Why think of me, huh? You know I'm always gonna be there kissing your ass regardless."

"Willow!" Buffy felt more than a little shocked by the outburst. "There's no ass-kissing between us…"

"Nope," Willow muttered. "That's all one-sided."

"It is not because there isn't any! We're just us. And I am your best friend whether you think so or not. Hell, I was busy trying to be your best friend while you were trying to kill me and everyone else you love."

Willow waved a dismissive hand. "Yeah, yeah. Been there, done that… before you did too."

Buffy had to give her that one. "What do you mean I don't treat you like it? We've done practically everything together since we've been friends. Until you stopped talking to me that is."

"No, I've done everything with you! You've always dropped me when something better came along."

"What? That's ridiculous."

"You chose Faith over me!"

Buffy, taken aback, had to take a second to respond to that. "I, uh, didn't even know you liked me like that."

"Oh, get over yourself! I meant back in high school!"

"Me get over myself? You're the one making me sound insurmountable," she shot back, relieved but a little embarrassed that she had gotten the wrong end of the stick.

"And I never chose Faith over you!"

"You did! We were friends and then she came along and was all cool and you were probably already having lusty feelings you were too scared to admit and you hung out with her all the time and hardly had any time for me!"

Buffy shook her head. "That's not true."

"It is. I should know, I was there."

"And so was I!"

"A-and when Tara and I broke up I know you were still hanging out with her behind my back."

"We met up a few times, sure, but it wasn't what I'd call hanging out and it wasn't behind your back."

"Well, you never told me about it."

"I…"

"You told her about Spike!"

"I…" Buffy began again.

She was feeling very off-balance with this conversation as it was. Throw Spike into it and she might as well be spinning around on her head.

"It was a difficult situation," she managed at last.

"Yeah, that you couldn't come to me with."

"It wasn't like that."

"It must have been," Willow countered. "Or I would have found out about it from you and not Tara. Except now I guess if I want to know anything about my supposed best friend I have to go to Kennedy instead. Seeing as she's your new flavour of the month."

"Flavour of the…?" Buffy repeated in angry disbelief. "Do you have any idea how idiotic you sound right now?"

"Yes!" Willow shouted, stopping Buffy from going on. "But that doesn't change the fact that I'm also right. So, no, Buffy, you don't need my forgiveness. The only thing you did wrong was be a nice person. But you should have been my nice person, not Kennedy's, don't you understand? Just once it would have been nice to not have to fight for your attention… for your friendship… when I needed it the most. So you know what, if you need it so bad, yeah, I forgive you, we're still best friends if that makes you feel better, but I'm still mad as hell at you too so just back the hell off, Okay!"

Buffy flinched when Willow started yelling, but sat her ground waiting for it to stop. When Willow was just staring at the table top and breathing heavy, she risked a tiny grin.

"Actually, yes, that does make me feel better. Thank you."

The glare Willow fired at her made Buffy flinch again.

"Just leave me alone."

"No."

"Please?" Willow asked as she picked up her pen again.

"No because if I leave you alone when you obviously need me then I'm just playing into your completely irrational hysterical paranoia," Buffy explained, shifting in her seat a little as if she was settling in the long-haul.

"That's fine. Play into it all you want. Anything as long as you're not sitting there anymore." Willow muttered as she resumed her copying.

"Sorry. Not going anywhere," Buffy sing-songed with as much enthusiasm as possible.

She would bounce a beach ball on her nose like a seal if she thought it would melt the ice that had suddenly formed over them again – even thicker than before. Unfortunately she didn't have a beach ball and Willow still wasn't looking up.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore tonight," Willow said quietly as she rubbed at her nose with her pen-less palm and blinked her eyes a few times. "I'm not feeling great as it is and you're making it worse."

"Okay, so lets talk about what I originally wanted to talk about before you started getting all hissy-fitty on me," Buffy said slowly. "What do you think we should do about Xander? We both know he's not right at the moment, Will, and he's sinking further all the time. If we don't do something to pull him out of this black mood soon…"

Willow looked up in exasperation and cut her off. "I tried helping him and look how well I did. He doesn't want my help and forcing it on him only made the situation worse."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means if he wants my help, great, I'm here, but until he asks I'm backing off and leaving him be."

"Do you think I should do the same?" Buffy asked.

She didn't like the idea of the sitting back and doing nothing approach, but she liked it better than having Xander mad at her like he was Willow.

"That'd be swell," Willow assured her.

She sighed. "I meant with Xander."

"Oh. Then I don't care."

"Of course you do."

"Look, Buffy, either you go or I go, and I was here first," Willow insisted, rubbing her nose again irritably.

"I already told ya, Will. I'm not going…"

Willow's forceful sneeze cut her off.

"…Anywhere," she finished quietly as she looked around the empty kitchen in surprise. "Hey! Using Magic is cheating!"

* * *

"Another?"

Faith continued to stare into her empty glass as she answered. "You tryin' to get me drunk, Al?"

"I didn't think you could get drunk."

"I can. Just takes more than beer."

"Would you like something stronger then?" She finally took the glass away from her face and hiked an eyebrow at him. "I'm honestly not trying to get you drunk," he added.

She chuckled and pushed some more money across the bar. "Guess I'll just take another of these then."

Alex fetched a fresh glass from above the bar. "You've been in a lot the last couple of weeks."

"There a law against it? You gonna arrest me for taking up bar space?" She made a show of looking around the mostly empty pub. "Me sitting here taking a chunk outta your profits?"

Despite her sarcasm she liked that it was nearly always quiet in Barnies. Normally she preferred joints where she could lose herself in the crowd and the music and just let loose. She wasn't feeling so much like that these days though. A cold beer and a chance to let her thoughts take over for a while were more her style.

Which was pathetic, but who cared, right?

"Not at all." Alex smiled and then scratched a little at his stubbly chin. "Just lately you are my profits."

She smiled back as she picked up the beer he'd pushed across the bar. She tilted it slightly towards him in a silent toast before taking a sip and then lowered it back to the bar so it was easier to stare into.

So this was her big fresh start. She'd done her time fair and square so she could be with the woman she thought she loved with no hassles and here she was sitting in a bar by herself and still sleeping in a bed alone every night.

Something had sure gone wrong with her grand plan somewhere along the line.

She should have just let Buffy come with her tonight. But, and this was something she didn't even like admitting to herself, she was scared. She didn't want to do the sit down and talk thing with her. At first it had been because she was pissed off, but now she was just convinced she'd screw it all up as soon as she opened her mouth.

Or Buffy would.

Which was pretty ridiculous, because it couldn't get much more screwed than it already was. But right now at least she could be sure Buffy still liked her. What if she didn't after they talked? Easier to keep her at arms length for now until she had her head together better.

Except not easier. At all. Which was why she kept kissing her. But only when Buffy wasn't expecting it, and never when Buffy was actually looking for it, because that might imply… something. Something Faith wasn't ready to imply yet, obviously, even if she didn't really know what it was herself.

"Why am I so screwed up?"

"What makes you think you're screwed up?"

Faith hadn't even realised she'd spoken out loud and looked up tetchily to see Alex holding out her change.

She snatched it out of his hand. "I appreciate you're just _embracing_ your job, but I'm not looking for barstool therapy, thanks."

"Okay," he said, but didn't leave.

Faith took an angry swig of her beer and set it down again. Alex stayed silent but she couldn't think properly with him just standing there.

"Fine." She threw her hands up a little like he'd been badgering her to speak. "I have this awesome girl waiting for me at home but she doesn't want me. There, ya happy now?"

He frowned a little. "Buffy?"

She nodded without looking at him.

"Why would she be waiting for you if she didn't want you?"

"I like your logic, big guy, but its bullshit. No offence."

Alex shrugged. "Trust me, she wants you."

"Yeah? And how would you know?"

"Because she told me. Well, not me exactly, just the guy who served her too many drinks one night, but that guy happened to be me and that's how I know."

"Okay, maybe I am drunk on beer, because you lost me."

"She was drinking those green cocktails she likes." A wistful smiled flashed across his face. "And she couldn't stop talking about you. All night. And the more cocktails she had, the more graphic she got." He went a little pink at the memory.

Faith grinned at the revelation. "Was this recently?"

"Not really. You were still, uh, away."

"You're a cop, Al; the word 'prison' shouldn't scare ya. And things have changed a lot since then," she added with a morose sigh.

"Why?"

"Turns out she liked the fantasy better than the reality of me being around."

"Really?"

"I dunno. Maybe it's me that did."

She finished her drink in a series of gulps and pushed her change across the bar for another.

"Is that really how you feel?" he asked as he poured it.

"I dunno," she said again, feeling even more depressed.

She took out her cigarettes and tapped the bottom so hard one flew up and straight between her waiting lips.

"You mind?" she asked around it as she fished for her lighter in her jeans.

He wasn't a fan of the second hand smoke himself, but the old boys around the back smoked their pipes often enough that he was used to it. So he shook his head as he set her drink down in front of her.

"You got an ashtray or should I just flick it on the floor?"

"Plenty on the tables," he told her pointedly.

"And here was me thinking you were enjoying prying into my life."

As she started to get down from her stool she thought he was going to let her go – which didn't bring as much relief as she expected – but at the last minute before she picked up her drink, he waved his hand at her.

"Stay there. I'll get one."

She smiled once he couldn't see her and sat back down again. When he was back behind the bar he put a green plastic ashtray in front of her.

"So do you own this place?" she asked. "'Cause I thought you were supposed to be the sheriff around here."

"I'm the deputy sheriff," he said gruffly. "And I thought we were talking about you."

She gave a one-shoulder shrug. "Okay, sure, if you really want to know. I _don't_ own this place."

He looked confused for a second before he got it and then he laughed softly, shaking his head. "Really?"

"No, but if I was gonna own a bar this wouldn't be such a suck one to own, I guess. It's big." She turned on her stool to look around. "Could be a hell of a lot busier though."

"It'll be heaving at Christmas," he vouched. "Would be busier now if you'd brought Buffy with you."

She turned back around on her stool, sighing. "You're not subtle, man."

He nodded. "I'm not good at subtle."

She ground her cigarette out in the ashtray. "Me neither."

"In what way?"

"Is it so wrong to want to have sex with my girlfriend?"

"Uh? I…I…" He went bright red and stammered a bit without actually saying anything.

"Never mind, forget I said anything," she huffed and once again finished her beer quickly.

"I…I…" He said some more, and then shook his head quickly. "Do you, uh, want…?"

"Why not?" She pushed her empty glass towards him. "Not like I'm getting any tonight anyway, right?"

He picked up the glass and hurried to a pump at the other end of the bar to refill it.

Faith chuckled tiredly. She'd finally managed to scare him away. Except now she had she felt even lonelier than before. She wasn't used to loneliness. At least, she wasn't used to letting it get a hold on her. Trust her to start succumbing the second she actually had people around who gave a shit.

The door opened behind her before Alex came back, but she didn't take any notice. People had been trickling in and then out again all night.

So when someone right next to her said: "Why do you have to be here?" She looked up in surprise.

Kennedy was standing there, glaring at her.

"Piss off," Faith answered disdainfully and faced the front again.

"Don't start with me!" Kennedy growled.

"Uh, you started. I was just sitting here."

"Yeah, well, do you have to be?"

"Piss Off," Faith said again, pronouncing each word strongly this time.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kennedy shake her head and then Alex was back with her drink.

"Thanks." She accepted it with a smile.

"Hi, Kennedy."

"Hey, Alex. Could I get…?"

Before she could finish, Faith interrupted. "You forgot my chaser."

Alex looked surprised. "I did?"

"Yeah. Double Jack." She put some more money on the bar.

Obviously bemused, Alex grabbed a small glass from the back of the bar and held it to the optics. Kennedy stared straight ahead, jaw clenched, and Faith hid her smile behind an expression of boredom.

Alex gave her the whiskey and took the money. Once it was in the cash register he turned back to Kennedy again.

"What can I…?"

Faith cut him off again. "What about my peanuts?"

Alex looked more than bemused this time. "What peanuts?"

Faith waved some more money at him. "Call yourself a barman? I order three things and you can't remember them."

He went to take the money, but she pulled it away.

"Yeah right? I wanna see the nuts first."

Sighing heavily he went to fetch them. Kennedy's jaw was still clenched but now she was glaring straight at her. Faith gave her a bright smile before turning away again. When Alex came back she exchanged the money for the bag of nuts. After he'd put it in the till he turned to Kennedy again.

"So?"

"I'll have a…"

"Jeez, man, are you new at this?" Faith broke in again. "Where are my…?"

Kennedy couldn't take it anymore. "You said you ordered three things. Three! You have three fricken things in front of you so what the hell could you be missing now?"

Faith laughed. "Fair enough. I had no idea what else I was gonna ask for anyway." She waved a hand at Kennedy. "You can go."

"Thank you," Kennedy said with exaggerated patience. "I'll have a beer please?"

"You're underage!" Faith said with a gleeful smirk.

Kennedy looked like a deer caught in the headlights for a split second but she didn't splutter when she finally said, "No, I'm not!"

Alex looked unsure; after all, he'd served her before.

"She's lying!" Kennedy insisted while Faith just grinned smugly.

"I'm sorry, Kennedy, I don't want to doubt you or anything, but I'm going to need some ID now, just to be on the safe side."

"You've got to be kidding me?"

"I'm an officer of the law," he said uncomfortably. "I have to look into all allegations whether I want to or not. I'm sorry; I probably should have asked the first time you came in."

"Probably?" Faith scoffed.

Kennedy dug irritably into her back pocket and pulled out her wallet. Flipping it open she pulled out her ID card and thrust it towards Alex. He gave it some scrutiny and then, glaring at Faith, handed it back.

"Sorry," he muttered to Kennedy and then walked to the other end of the bar to pour a beer.

"You're kidding," Faith breathed as she watched him. Turning back to Kennedy she snatched the card out of her hand before she could put it away. "Let me see that!"

It was a damn good job. She knew for a fact that Kennedy was only nineteen, but according to her ID she was nearly twenty-two and you couldn't fault the workmanship. It was miles better quality than any of the many cards she had before going to jail.

"Damn," she muttered as she handed it back, impressed despite herself.

It was Kennedy's turn to grin smugly as she put the card back in her wallet.

"Red do that for you?" Faith whispered, doubtful Willow would be in the business of fake ID's.

Kennedy shook her head, but Alex came back with her beer before she could expand.

"I'm gonna clear some tables," he said before walking off again. Obviously too pissed at Faith right now to stay and chat.

Faith rolled her eyes and downed her double whiskey. She shook her head a little as she savoured the burn.

"Dunno how you can drink that stuff," Kennedy muttered, sipping from her beer.

"Yeah, well it helps to be legal," Faith countered. "Anyway, plenty of available space in here. Don't feel ya gotta sit next to me."

Kennedy took the next bar stool anyway. "You know, if you weren't such a bitch all the time, maybe Buffy would be here and you wouldn't have to get drunk alone."

Faith felt her anger flare but she didn't give Kennedy the satisfaction of seeing it. "I'm not getting drunk and Buffy wanted to be here."

"So why isn't she?"

Faith still didn't have a good answer for that. "Aren't you supposed to be patrolling? Or are you still shirking your responsibilities because of your broken heart?"

"No!" Kennedy snapped. "I've done it already."

"Yeah, well as a wise blonde once said to me, sometimes a Vamp'll hit a street even after you've checked it, so maybe you should go do another round."

"Who said that?"

Faith rolled her eyes.

"Buffy." Kennedy guessed. "Well, I already went around twice without needing to be told and there's nothing out there. I've only staked two Vamps in town since the night of the Rising. Plus Giles told me to stay away from anywhere those Meluthian lizards might be hiding."

"Yeah, me too. He wants to wait until Red has something on their magical shit. You know if she's made any progress?"

"If she has I'd be the last person she told."

"True," Faith said without any sympathy.

She tried to ignore the other Slayer then. With her elbow on the bar and her head in her hand, she looked deep into the amber-hued contents of her glass. She'd done all the talking she was in the mood for tonight. It was her night off. Tomorrow she would be the one out there patrolling and she wouldn't be wasting her time on the dead-empty streets of Boudenver.

She could go into the city. Cleveland was filled up with vampires and other evil nasties just waiting to meet the sharp end of her weapons. Giles didn't expect any of them to head that way because the Hellmouth was around here someplace, but Faith had taken Alison once or twice and it was a way better training ground than this little town.

It would be boring catching the bus on her own though. An hour and half journey through Hick-country, and in the dark. The taxi ride back wouldn't be so bad. Expensive, but she could just stretch out and take a nap if the driver was boring.

It seemed like a lot of effort for a couple of hours of patrol. Maybe she could steal one of the cars for a few hours, or, like borrow one maybe anyway. Didn't B say the truck was part hers? Surely no one would mind so much if she took it into the city for a few hours then, on business so to speak.

She sighed. Probably not, but they might mind if she wrapped it around a tree before reaching the end of the drive. And Debbie D might mind if she got pulled over by one of Alex's buddies with no driver's license.

"So what do you really think about Buffy's Thanksgiving idea?" Kennedy asked, breaking her thoughts.

Not lifting her head, Faith shrugged. "Not a lot to think about is there? She wants to cook a big-ass meal, I got no problem eating it."

"You get this is about more than the food, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, peace, love, harmony, giving thanks, whatever. I'm sure I can fake my way through one day of it."

"No, it's more than that, for Buffy, anyway."

Faith dropped her forearm to the bar and turned her head to Kennedy.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure you'll figure…" Kennedy began, lifting her beer to her smirking lips.

Faith caught and squeezed her shoulder making beer splash over Kennedy's hand.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll figure it out too, but you already know so how about you save me some time."

Kennedy gave the hand on her shoulder a pointed look. Faith acknowledged it with a smile, but didn't remove her hand. So, wincing a little, Kennedy set down her dripping glass and started talking.

"Buffy's missing… probably everything right now. Her home, her town, her old life. Her parents. You know how bummed she is that her dad invited Dawn for the holidays and not her, right?"

"She said she didn't care," Faith said, remembering the conversation they'd had a week or so ago perfectly.

"Then she lied."

Faith dropped her hand from Kennedy shoulder. "Really? And why would she tell you the truth and not me?"

"Would you like a list?" Ignoring Faith's narrowing eyes, she continued. "My guess? Partly because I spent more than thirty seconds talking to her about it and partly because she doesn't mind burdening me with her problems. Not that they are a burden or anything," she added quickly, "But that's probably how she sees them."

"And how come you don't see them as a burden?" Faith asked, openly suspicious.

"I think the real question should be: How come you do?" Kennedy countered.

"I don't. She can tell me anything she likes."

"Does she know that?" Kennedy pushed. "I'm only asking because you're clearly not big with the personal discussion thing."

"Did she say that?"

Kennedy shrank back a little at the snapped question. "No, I was going by our conversation now, but I guess I hit a nerve."

Faith turned back to face the bar.

"I'm gonna hit something in a minute," she muttered, swirling the last of her beer around the glass. "You can stop looking at me now; this conversation is over."

Kennedy did turn away and nursed her beer in silence. Faith downed the last of hers and thought about getting up and going home. Grabbing Kennedy's wrist, she checked the younger Slayer's watch. It was still too early. She had to wait until Buffy was in bed at least.

If she went home right now she was just drunk enough to give in and kiss Buffy goodnight, but not drunk enough to fall asleep straight after. She couldn't take the thought of lying awake for hours hornier than usual and beating herself up for making a move when she wasn't ready.

Besides, there was no way she was letting Kennedy think she'd succeeded in running her out of Barnies.

Alex was still MIA so she leaned back on her stool and called out, "Hey, Al! A little service?" He didn't come running so she rapped her knuckles hard on the bar. "Could die of thirst around here, ya know?"

"You're not easy to talk to, you know?" Kennedy said quietly once Faith has shut up.

"Yeah, we just established that." Unconcerned, she twisted on her seat, still trying to locate Alex.

"No, I mean for Buffy. You have all that bad history for one thing, but there's also the fact that you don't have a whole lot in common."

Faith sneered. "Oh, but you think you two are the perfect match, is that it?"

For once Kennedy didn't rise to the bait. "I didn't say you weren't a perfect match. I just said you didn't have a lot in common. Think about it, apart from you both being slayers, what is there?"

Faith didn't want to think about it. She already had more than once.

"Your point?" she asked tiredly.

"Maybe you need to find some common ground to talk about."

"And how do we find it?"

"Well, you could try talking to her for starters…" Kennedy began sarcastically, but trailed off as she spotted the flaw in her plan.

Faith huffed a laugh. "What came first: the conversation or the common ground?"

Seeing Alex coming back around the side of the bar, Faith waved her empty glass and pleaded with her eyes.

Taking pity he came back over. "What can I get you this time?"

"Two beers. And one for yourself."

"Thanks," he said gruffly and started pouring three beers one after the other.

Kennedy looked surprised, but nodded her thanks when Faith pushed a full glass in front of her.

Faith drank half of hers in one go.

"You better not stray too far this time," she told Alex. "If she keeps talking to me I'm gonna need you to keep them coming."

Kennedy turned to the big deputy sheriff and asked, "Alex, if you were in love with someone you didn't have much in common with, what would you do to change that?"

"Hey!" Faith snapped at her, but turned to Alex nonetheless, hoping she didn't look too eager for his answer.

Alex thoughtfully rubbed the stubble on either side of his mouth. "Well, the last time I was in love was with this girl called Sharra. She was wonderful. Smart, sophisticated, and every time I saw her I couldn't think of a single thing to say that she might find interesting." He paused, smiling slightly. "But I knew she was in the church choir, so I joined up. I got to see her three evenings a week and I always had a way to start a conversation."

"What? 'Hi, I'm a great big lame-o?'" Faith guessed with a grin.

Alex gave her a surly glare for a second before saying, dead-pan, "Maybe, but I was a great big lame-o who got to date her for a year and a half. Where's your girlfriend again?"

"Whatever, man." Faith shook her head wearily. "You're excused again; I can pour my own beers."

Alex laughed at her. "You live in the same house. You work at the same school. There must be something you can find to talk about."

"I can find stuff to talk about. That's not the problem."

"Then what is?" Alex asked.

Kennedy looked up with eager interest too. When Faith didn't answer, she did.

"She's worried she can't give Buffy what she wants."

"Hey, I can give B what she wants!"

"Emotionally speaking," Kennedy continued like Faith hadn't spoken.

"I… I never said that!" Faith hoped her angry tone covered her initial hesitation.

"You don't need to, it's obvious. Buffy's really messed up right now. With her Dad thing, and with the Willow ignoring her thing, and the Xander being depressed thing, and the whole losing her home thing, and the, you know, _you_ thing. I mean, Buffy's big on family – I get that and I hardly know her – and right now her family is_ really_ screwed up."

Kennedy paused to sip from her beer; Faith just sat there staring into hers.

"If you thought you could be there for her, I'm sure you'd be there right now instead of sitting here getting drunk, because otherwise it would mean you just didn't care, right?"

Faith knocked her beer back in three swallows and pushed her glass across the bar. Alex refilled it and pushed it back without a word. She chugged half of it, feeling it finally fog her mind just a little. Setting the glass down carefully she watched as she turned it in wet circles on the bar.

After minutes of silence, she simply muttered, "I care."


	5. Act 1:4

The next morning Faith was late getting up.

She couldn't remember exactly how much she had drunk the night before, but she remembered starting on the Jack Daniels and she could remember the argument with Kennedy on the walk home.

It had been about the younger slayer moving in on her girl.

She also vaguely remembered Kennedy punching her in the face. She definitely remembered punching Kennedy back in the face. Or maybe she'd punched her first. She didn't know.

They'd arrived back at the house together though so it couldn't have been much of a fight. No one was left for dead in the woods. Xander had been up when they got home. She couldn't remember their conversation, but those last few beers with him had definitely been a mistake.

The last hangover she'd had was the morning after Ogallala. At least this one wasn't a patch on that bastard. Her head hurt a little and her stomach needed something solid and toasted to get rid of the churning going on inside, but mostly she just felt pathetic at the memory of her 'sharing' the night before.

By the time she dragged herself out of bed she was over an hour late for work. Xander hadn't come knocking for once, though, so maybe he was still sleeping it off too. Or maybe she'd quit last night, or he'd fired her, and she just couldn't remember it.

A long, hot shower made her feel marginally better. Back in her bedroom, she dragged her clothes on quick and left her hair wet to go and get some breakfast.

Buffy was the only person in the kitchen and Faith's legs seemed to buckle at the sight of her. Grabbing the doorframe tightly, she managed to school herself into something like normal before Buffy looked up and saw her.

"Hey."

"Hey." Faith nodded and let go of the doorframe. "Morning. Did Andrew make, uh, I mean, how are you?"

Buffy looked at her quizzically. "I'm okay. Andrew and Craig just left for the airport, but he left some bacon."

Faith's stomach lurched a little. "Toast!"

Buffy smiled. "I'm sorry?"

Faith closed her eyes for a second and then walked into the kitchen. "I need toast," she clarified, embarrassed. "Do you want some?"

Buffy got up from her chair and pointed at it. "Sit."

"I'm fine," she said automatically.

As she moved towards the toaster on the far side of the room, Buffy gently caught her arm.

"Sit down," she insisted, pulling her closer to the chair. "I can make it for you."

"You don't have to…"

"I know I don't. Coffee?"

"Yeah." Faith gave in, sinking down on the chair. "I'm late for work. Is Xander mad?"

Buffy shook her head as she put bread in the toaster and poured a mug of coffee. "He went into Cleveland to pick up some doors or something. He left a note for you."

She brought it over with the coffee before going back to wait by the toaster.

Faith blew on her coffee as she read the note.

"He's given me the morning off. Does this mean I'm fired?"

"No, I think it just means you have the morning off."

"Cool," Faith muttered.

The time off was useful, would give her some time to prepare for later. Preparation she should have done the night before, but had chosen to drink to forget about it instead. Smart moves being her thing and all.

She sipped from her coffee. It was still hot enough to burn her lips a little, but it felt good going down.

"Kennedy has a black eye," Buffy said casually, catching the toast as it popped up.

Faith couldn't help her smile. "She does?"

"Uh huh. It's almost gone, and she tried to hide it, but I know a fading black eye when I see one."

"Wonder how she got that?" Faith asked, but it didn't come out enough like a question to sound innocent.

Buffy brought over a plate with four pieces of toast – two buttered, two unbuttered – and set it on the table. Gently she touched a fingertip to Faith's left cheek.

"Same way you got this bruise maybe?"

Faith jerked her head away and picked up a slice of the unbuttered toast. "So she told you."

"Actually, no." Buffy sat in the chair next to her and picked up a buttered slice. "Xander told me you'd had words last night and I pieced it together when I saw your cheek. I'm quick like that." She flashed a smile before biting into her toast.

Faith just crunched up her own slice quickly. Washing it down with a mouthful of coffee, she started immediately on her second slice. Once it was gone and also washed down, she looked at the remaining triangle of toast on the plate longingly.

Buffy was only halfway through her first piece as she followed Faith's gaze. She put her fingertips on the edge of the crust of the remaining slice to claim it and looked up playfully.

"It's buttered."

"I'll live," Faith replied, trying to smile about it despite her churning stomach.

Buffy shrugged and pushed the plate towards her.

"You're sure?"

"I've already had a cooked…" It disappeared into Faith's mouth with three fast bites. "…breakfast. You want some more?"

Faith shook her head, starting to feel better now. "I'll have that bacon in a bit, but right now just sitting is, uh, good, I guess."

Now was probably as good a time as any to try and find some common ground with Buffy. It was just the two of them and nice and quiet. Plus, they'd just shared breakfast together; if nothing else came to her she could always start a debate on the merits of unbuttered toast over buttered.

Didn't hurt that the anxious, jumpy feeling she was getting at being alone with Buffy was taking her mind off of later too. Lesser of two evils or something.

"Yeah, this is… good," Faith said, hoping it sounded more genuine out loud than it did in her head.

"Okay," Buffy said slowly, eyeing her.

It her made her feel stupidly nervous and Faith gulped a little more coffee than she meant to. Coughing as the hot liquid tried to drown her, she covered her mouth and her eyes, watering freely, darted about in embarrassment. The more she wanted to stop coughing the more she coughed but she shied away as Buffy tried to pat her on the back.

Eventually she got her breath under control and wiped her eyes, but she felt even less able to make it through a proper conversation with Buffy than before. Where was all the damn bravado her teachers and then her jailers had bitched about for years when she really fricken needed it?

"I can't do this," she said despairingly to herself.

"What?"

Faith looked at her quickly, "Nothing."

"Okay," Buffy said even more slowly than before. "You're being weird."

"I'm not!"

Buffy nodded. "'Yes you are."

Faith nodded too. For several moments they were like two bobble-heads reacting off of each other. And then Faith stood up swiftly.

"I have to go."

"Okay, why?"

Faith shook her head. "I don't know."

"Okay."

"Okay." Faith just stood there.

Buffy just sat there. Eons passed. Buffy fidgeted a little. Faith fidgeted a little.

"You could just sit down again."

"Okay." Faith sat back down.

Another month or so seemed to pass.

"You're being weird," Buffy said again.

"So are you," Faith countered.

"Yeah." Buffy nodded. "Maybe I should go."

"Yeah." Faith nodded, before changing her mind. "I mean, no! If I can't go you can't go."

"I never said you couldn't go."

Faith stiffened slightly. "Do you want me to go?"

"No!"

Faith unstiffened. "Okay."

"Okay," Buffy agreed.

There was another bout of silence.

"So…" Faith began.

"Yes?" Buffy asked hopefully.

"We should, uh…"

"Talk?"

At a loss, Faith sort of shrugged. "I guess."

"Okay."

Faith's mind went blank. She couldn't even remember what she wanted to say, let alone how to say it. Buffy sat patiently, but the longer the silence dragged on the more she seemed to sag in her chair.

After another minute, Buffy got up from the table.

"You're going?" Faith hoped she didn't sound relieved.

"I need coffee. All this non-stop not-talking is wearing me out."

"I don't know what to say," she admitted as Buffy went to the coffee pot. "You know me, I'm not good at… this talking stuff."

"Your therapy sessions are going to be pretty quiet then." Buffy chuckled.

Faith cracked a grin. "Maybe not."

"How come?"

"I find it easier to talk about you than to you."

"Really?" Buffy leaned her elbows on the counter, her mug cupped between her hands. "What are you planning on saying about me?"

Okay, so this wasn't taking her mind off it so much now, was kinda forcing her mind right into it in fact, but maybe this was good too. They'd both managed a couple of complete sentences at last and at least this was something she could talk about, should be talking about. She wanted Buffy in the loop, kinda needed her support even, not that she had a clue how to ask for it. But Buffy had just given her a way into the topic, now all Faith had to do was run with it.

"That'll probably depend on the questions I'm asked."

"Is that how it works then? They ask you questions and you answer them?"

Faith shrugged fully this time. "Not exactly. My shrink in prison just used to start me off with a question and then kinda steered the conversation from there if I ran out of steam."

"Like what kind of question?"

"You know, the usual." Faith tried to think back to those sessions in the quiet windowless grey room. For the first year and a half she had been handcuffed to her chair every time. After that apparently she'd earned the right to full hand gestures, but the questions hadn't gotten any less restraining. "Did anyone make you feel homicidal in the lunch queue today? Did you have any dreams about killing bad people last night? What memories do you have of your Mother's coke habit? You get the idea."

Buffy didn't actually look like she did despite her slow nod. She smiled anyway as she came back to the table. "Good questions, I'm sure, but what does any of that have to do with me?"

"Not a thing." Faith laughed quietly. "I didn't talk about you in prison. Least, not the first time."

"Why not?"

As Buffy took her seat again, Faith sat forward, forearms on the table top as she smirked a little at the blonde.

"Okay, tell me the truth, how often did you talk about me between leaving me with the LAPD and me turning up in Sunnydale with Willow?"

When Buffy hesitated, Faith's eyebrows jumped once in playful curiosity.

Buffy cleared her throat. "As little as possible. You weren't exactly my favourite topic."

"Ditto." Faith sat back in her chair, crossing her ankles under the table and picking up her half full mug of coffee so she would have something to keep her hands busy. Her smirk grew stronger along with her confident posture as she remembered something from last night. "What about the second time I was in? After Sunnydale? Talk about me much then?"

Buffy actually blushed and ducked her head to the side. She was smiling though. "Your name might have crossed my lips a few times."

"Really?"

"I take it someone's been talking. Xander?"

"Alex. He said it got…" She grinned. "…really _graphic_."

Buffy went an even brighter shade of red. "Oh, I'm gonna kill him!"

Faith laughed. "Relax, he didn't go into detail. You can if you want though."

"At ten 'o' clock on a Monday morning, I don't think so."

"It was that good?"

"No!" Buffy said. "Or maybe, I don't know, I can't really remember." She laughed softly, shaking her head. "I think I was talking about how you have no hair."

Faith frowned. "I have hair."

"On your beard," Buffy clarified. "Your beard has no hair."

"Right," she drawled. "That makes perfect sense."

Buffy shrugged. "I may have been a little tipsy. So did you talk about me the second time?"

Faith nodded. "To Janey. It didn't get _graphic _though."

Buffy grinned. "Why not?"

"I doubt she'da wanted to hear it somehow."

"Oh. So, what's she like?"

"Small, cute, blonde."

A little of Buffy's grin slipped away. "I didn't ask for her _Playboy _tagline. I meant what's her personality like."

Faith's eyebrows rose a little at her reaction, but she carefully lowered them again before answering. "Sweet, sensitive, out of her depth but game, ya know? If she wasn't stuck in the joint she'd be a hell of a Slayer," she added with a proud smile.

The rest of Buffy's grin disappeared, but she stayed quiet. Faith had the sense to know something had shifted in the mood, but she couldn't figure out why so she continued.

"I kinda wanted to talk to Giles about getting her out."

"Really?" The tone wasn't frosty, just a little chilled. "Why?"

"Because she shouldn't be in there in the first place."

"I thought she killed someone."

"Well, yeah, but it was an accident. Some dude messed with her and she punched him. That's all. She didn't know she had super-strength at the time or anything."

"Still…"

"Still nothing, B!" Faith said, sitting forward again. "If I can get out free and clear after what I did, there's no way we can leave J to rot in that place."

"J," Buffy whispered to herself. Before Faith could ask what of it, she added. "Fine, talk to Giles."

Faith studied her for a moment or two. "I shouldn't have to ask if you're okay with this."

"Then don't." Buffy cut her eyes to the side and sighed audibly before looking back. "You don't. Talk to Giles. And if you need my help…" Buffy stood up again and leaned on the back of her chair as she pushed it in. "…Just let me know. I gotta…" She pointed over her shoulder, but then after a second's hesitation started in the other direction towards the back door.

"So now we're done talking?" Faith asked, confused and a little annoyed.

"No. I just…" Buffy stopped at the door and turned to face her. "I like that you want to help this girl, really, but… but I said I'd spar with Kennedy this morning, so I should do that and we should just pick this back up later, okay?"

A gust of cold wind swirled around Faith as Buffy left. She shivered, staring at the back door as it closed again. She was even more confused now. Why was Buffy running away when they'd finally started talking normally? Wasn't that what she had been wanting all along?

"Guess it'll have to be," she muttered to herself before getting up to find the bacon.

* * *

"Isn't she sixteen?" Kennedy asked as she jumped back just in time to stop a fist from striking her nose.

"Going on seventeen, I think, but what's that got to do with anything?" Buffy shot back irritably.

Her next punch connected solidly and she danced lightly around the younger Slayer on the balls of her feet as she waited for her to recover.

"That you're jealous of a sixteen year old," Kennedy spelled out as she wiped her watering eyes.

"I'm not jealous!" Buffy pushed her hard between her shoulder blades.

In her unreadiness, Kennedy stumbled a few steps forward, but she twirled fast enough and engaged with a left back hand that caught and stung Buffy's forearm, locking her elbow for a moment so she had to dodge back out of the way before she could retaliate.

"You sound jealous."

"She's sixteen!"

"This was my point." Kennedy smirked as she blocked a series of headshots with only a little less than perfect ease.

"I'm not jealous," Buffy repeated, mostly for her own benefit.

She would have been surer of herself if Faith's appraisal of the girl hadn't been so praiseful. It was true she wanted to be the only small, cute blonde Faith thought about, but that didn't mean she thought this Janey was any kind of a threat. After all, she was in prison! She couldn't get less threatening unless she was dead.

"They shared a cell," she mused aloud as she knocked Kennedy's countering punches away without really seeing them. "And you know what they say about prison."

"Really shitty food?"

Buffy caught Kennedy's right hook by the wrist and twisted into her. A cock of her hip later and Kennedy was flat out on the blue training mats.

"I was thinking more of all the girl-on-girl," she admitted. She dropped to her knees next to Kennedy's feet. "And give me fifty for leaving yourself open like that."

Kennedy gave a chuckle that was half frustrated sigh. "You know, all the other girls get jealous because you're giving me personal training, but if they could see the crap you actually put me through…"

"Okay, I've been counting in my head and you should be on twelve by now so you better get a move on."

Kennedy started her sit-ups and Buffy dropped her stern face.

"You know why I'm giving you the personal treatment, right?"

Kennedy stopped counting under her breath to say. "Because you secretly dig me?"

"Oh God, don't you start!" Buffy shook her head in mock – well, mostly mock – dismay. "You have the makings of a great Slayer, Kenny. Well, you all do, but I can't help thinking some of you are gonna never reach your full potential because of the whole lack of Watchers thing. I don't want that to happen to you."

Kennedy grinned. "Because I'm special?"

Buffy thwapped her thigh with the back of her hand. "Because you're difficult and I know you wouldn't listen or take any notice of someone who's been a Watcher for less time than you've been a Slayer."

Kennedy finished her fifty sit-ups and flopped back down to her back. "Can you blame me?"

"Not really. I was Giles' first Slayer; I don't think he'd even had potentials before, so we sort of grew into our roles together. But Giles' are few and far between, especially now. You could be first rate, Kennedy, I'm sure of it, but you can't do it alone."

Kennedy went unusually quiet and when it lasted Buffy looked down at her.

"What?"

"Are you offering to be my Watcher?"

"What? No. I'm not a Watcher," Buffy said quickly.

"Then what are you offering?"

"Just someone to keep you on your toes until we find the right guy… or gal, for you."

"What if I don't want anyone else?" When Buffy just stared at her, Kennedy sat up. "I had a Watcher, a great one, for ten years. No one is ever going to take his place. And that's not being difficult, that's just the way I feel."

Buffy nodded solemnly. "So we'll just keep going with the personal treatment then."

* * *

"Thanks, Xan." Buffy held the kitchen door open for him with her foot. "Is that the last of it?"

"I think so." Xander shouldered the door as he came through so that Buffy could step away before she dropped the three overloaded brown bags in her arms. "I actually saw the jeeps tires pop back into their usual round shape when I picked it up."

"I told you we should take the truck." She laughed but it morphed into "Oh, shit!" as she felt the middle bag start to slip.

She saw Xander's eye go wide but with the big cardboard box in his hands he was going to be no help. Before she could resign herself to clearing splattered ingredients from the floor, Faith was there. Catching the falling bag easily, she steadied the others until Buffy could settle them on the table.

"Thanks."

"No worries." Faith handed the errant bag back and walked away. "Buy enough? There's only gonna be six of us, ya know?"

"That's what I said." Xander put his box next to the other stuff and stretched.

"I bought two of everything I need. Just in case." She eyed Faith as she put her coat on. "You're going to Barnies again?"

She tried to make the question sound light, but it didn't. She couldn't hide all her annoyance. Their conversation that morning had left her feeling irritable about stuff and whether her jealousy was irrational or not – and she could admit it probably was – Faith seemed to be deliberately forcing distance between them. Only showing enough attention to keep Buffy guessing as to whether they were still a couple or if the moment had passed for them.

"Patrol. It's my night."

"Oh."

"You wanna come with me?" Faith wrapped a woolly scarf around her neck. "Or are you going with Kennedy again?"

"I wasn't planning on going at all tonight."

She'd planned on spending the evening going through her recipes and making sure she had everything, but the thought of patrolling with Faith was an appealing one. They hadn't yet since Faith had been back, at least not just the two of them. It was one of the things Buffy had most been looking forward to about having her around and maybe it was just what they needed.

"Do you really want me to come with?"

"Sure. Long as you apologise for storming out on me earlier first."

"I didn't storm out on you!"

"You upped and left in the middle of a conversation. What would you call it?" Faith asked.

"I thought we'd finished," she lied.

"No you didn't." Faith fetched her keys from the hook by the door. "So, you gonna?"

"I sat through half an hour of you hemming and hawing before you actually managed to get to the conversation," Buffy said. "It's not my fault we ran out of time."

"Okay, fine." Faith gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Walking out the back door, she added, "Don't wait up."

Once the door was shut, Buffy kicked one of the dining chairs.

"Hey, hey, no!" Xander darted forward and pulled her away from the table altogether. "I didn't spend all that time making you a state of the art training barn so you could beat up our breakable furniture."

"Sorry," Buffy muttered. "I just wish she'd stop doing that."

"What, kissing you?"

"Yes. No. Not completely. I just want her to stop the walking away part afterwards. It's confusing."

"If it's any help I think she's pretty confused right now too," Xander said.

"She's talked to you?"

"Not exactly." Xander shrugged. "You know what she's like. Faith doesn't so much talk as rant while she's working. It'd be pretty funny if I didn't think laughing would get me cold-cocked."

"Did she rant about me today?" Buffy asked hopefully.

Xander shook his head. "We didn't work together today. I was working on plans for the stables and Faith was whitewashing the outside of the shower block. And can I just say that its typical we finally get that thing up and running just in time for there to be no one here to use it."

"We'll appreciate it when everyone comes back. So when did she last rant about me?"

Xander went to fetch two beers from the refrigerator and brought one back to her. "Last night, and I already told you everything about it that I'm going to."

"But you didn't tell me anything!"

When Xander just shrugged again, Buffy sighed and opened her beer.

"If it was Angel you'd tell me everything."

"That's because I don't like Angel."

"I didn't think you liked Faith all that much either," Buffy said, putting her bottle on the counter so she could start unpacking the shopping.

"She's growing on me. A little. Look, Buff, if she was saying bad stuff, I'd tell you and then I'd hate her with you, but she's not. She's just pissed at the way things are, same as you."

"Well, she's the only one who can change things."

"Maybe she thinks the same about you."

Buffy fiddled with a jar of cranberry sauce. She wanted to make own, but that had too many avenues for disaster, so she had brought three different kinds and was going to mix them together. That was sort of like making her own.

"I'm doing everything I can."

"Really? When was the last time you spontaneously kissed her before leaving a room?"

Buffy pouted. "I never get the chance to leave the room first."

"Not even this morning?"

"Okay, so this conversation is done," she said, putting the jar down and digging into a bag again.

Xander didn't let up. "Did you ask her how her session went today?"

A bag of frozen peas dropped to the table with a slushy sound. "What?"

Xander looked as alarmed as she felt. "Her first appointment was at lunch. That's why I gave her the morning off. Tell me you remembered that?"

Buffy had black spots in her vision. "She never told me what day. And… and she never said this morning! How was I…? Oh, I'm begging you to tell me you're messing with me. Please, Xander?"

"Well, I would, but… I thought she would have told you."

Buffy shook her head. "I knew it was this week but…How could she not tell me?" she asked, getting angry, better for staving off the guilt.

"Didn't you ask?"

"I asked if she wanted to talk about it. She said no. I didn't bring it up again because I didn't want to crowd her. Dammit! Should I go find her?"

"Normally, I'd say yes, but unless you know which direction she went in you could just end up walking around angry and upset the whole night."

Buffy nodded. "Guess I'm waiting up for her after all." She started to pull the stuff angrily from the bags. "I'm so mad at her right now! Why can't she ever just talk to me like a normal person?"

"Apparently she tried this morning." Buffy glared at him and he held his hands up in surrender. "Or, yeah, exactly what you said."

Most of the shopping was dumped out on the table now. Picking up her beer with one hand, Buffy carried a few items to the fridge in her other. She took a long swallow before opening the fridge and shoving the items in wherever they'd fit.

She couldn't believe Faith. Why would she do this? Sure they were having problems, but her first therapist appointment was a big thing. It should have transcended all the crap. She realised Faith had tried to talk to her about it that morning. The therapy thing had come up, but it was Faith who had changed the subject, not her. If the other woman had been secretly urging that she dig deeper, she should have left a few more clues.

She took another long pull on her bottle and then set it on top of the fridge. Although it was the last thing she cared about right now, she had to get the cold food away before it went off. Having to spend another three hours in Wal-Mart tomorrow, replacing this stuff, wasn't going to help anyone.

"Chuck me the stuff for the fridge?" she asked to save her walking to and fro.

"Okay." Xander picked up a large tub of coleslaw and hefted it in his hand a few times. "Ready?"

"Uh huh."

Xander threw the tub and Buffy realised too late that it wasn't a perfect trajectory. Not expecting it made her lunging catch a second out and the tub sailed past her. The lid split against the window sill and coleslaw slopped down over the stove.

They both stared at the mess.

"I only have one eye!" Xander said defensively.

"And we still let you drive?" Buffy chuckled as she turned to him. "Think there's any chance we can pretend that isn't there until Andrew gets back next week?"

Her chuckle died when she saw how dejected Xander looked. With a bolstering breath, she resolved not to give in to his melancholy.

"Okay, lets try that again with something less splattery."

"No." He lifted his beer to his lips.

"Stop it!"

Her harsh tone actually made him pause before taking a drink. Capitalizing on it, Buffy stomped around the counter and snatched the bottle from his hands.

"You can have this back when the shopping is put away," she said as she stomped back again.

"Oh yeah, says…"

"Says me! And I'm really pissed off right now, Xan; do you really want me taking it out on you?"

"Fine." He picked up a two-pint carton of fresh cream. "But you're clearing up the mess."

He threw it to her, or actually, at her. She was still holding his beer and only had one hand. In retrospect it probably wouldn't have made much difference. As the carton hit her shoulder the foil top exploded.

Buffy looked down at her cream covered sweater, clucked her tongue and looked back up.

"See, you can do it, you just need focus."

Xander remained expressionless for a couple of seconds but then the laughter came. He couldn't seem to help it. It bubbled up, it bubbled out and it got louder the longer it went on.

Buffy joined in easily. Not even bothering to wipe at the cream dripping down her clothes. It would have only made it worse anyway. Setting his beer next to hers, she wiped her watering eyes with one hand and clutched at the fridge door with her other.

Giles suddenly burst into the kitchen. "Gather everyone! I think I have an idea about the Hedray's..." He stopped short when he realised they were laughing too hard to take any notice, and then he looked around the kitchen. "What on earth happened?"

* * *

It was by chance Willow wandered into the kitchen looking for a soda, but Giles collared her before she could beat a hasty retreat from all the people inside.

"Ah, Willow, finally someone I can rely on to act like a grown-up." He waved her closer.

"We are acting like grown-ups!" Buffy said.

"Yeah, we just went grocery shopping!" Xander added. "That's what grown-ups do."

She noticed they were both giggling like kids on opposite sides of the room. "Did I miss something funny?"

What she really meant was what had happened to make Xander laugh and smile so freely. She felt jealousy nibble at her insides. Trust Buffy to make him feel better. She chose to conveniently forget that Buffy had asked only the night before for some help in that department. Obviously she didn't need it anyway.

Still giggling, Buffy turned to face her and Willow saw the white cream splattered from her chin to her jeans.

She couldn't help grinning. "What happened?"

"Xander got a little over-excited." Buffy took an open bottle of beer from the top of the fridge and had a sip. Pulling it away, she grimaced and rubbed a drop of cream from her lips with the back of her hand. "All over me!"

Willow's eyebrows rose up as her grin grew and even Giles had a twinkle in his eye as he asked,

"Would you like us to leave the two of you alone?"

"What? Oh, ew!" Buffy pulled a face as she blushed. "Giles! It's just cream. From a cow, not from a… a boy."

Giles took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "And once again I regret sinking so far as your level."

"No, you just dug your own whole new level, G-meister." Grinning, Xander patted his shoulder as he walked to the fridge. "Besides, if my cream started getting carrots in it, I'd be on my way to the ER right now, not standing here giggling about it."

"Enough about the cream," Giles begged.

"Carrots?" Willow asked, not getting it.

Did Buffy and Xander suddenly have funny little private jokes that she wasn't in on?

"Cabbage too." Buffy pointed behind her too the stove and then brought her hand back around to slap at Xander's.

"And, ow!"

"Do we look like we're done?" Buffy asked, pushing him away so he couldn't make a second grab for his beer. "Get back over there."

"You can't seriously want to take a third shot at this?"

Willow stared at what she hoped was coleslaw covering the top of the stove and the window sill behind it. In her imagination she could hear it dribbling down the wall, out of sight, where it would fester and grow stuff.

"I'm not cleaning it up," she said quickly, just so it had been said. She turned back to the others. "Shot at what?"

"I need this table cleared as soon as possible," Giles said, probably thinking the best way to avoid conversations that might crack the lenses of his glasses was to just pretend they weren't even happening.

"We're on it." Buffy pushed gently at Xander again. "Come on, you heard the man."

"Don't you want to get changed first?" Xander asked as he moved over to the shopping spread over the table.

Buffy wiped the top of her bottle on a clean bit of sleeve before taking a cream-free sip. Putting the beer on top of the fridge again, she shook her head.

"That might just lead to me getting changed twice. Now focus… but gently!"

Willow feigned interest in the books Giles was putting on any free space of table top, but really she was watching what Xander and Buffy were doing. Wanting to join in, but not wanting to give Xander a reason to stop or Buffy a reason to think they were okay yet.

Xander picked up a bag of carrots next and after staring intently at Buffy for several seconds he threw them to her. They went wide, but Buffy was ready for it and stepped forward to catch them and… disappeared.

The carrots hit the toaster hard enough to crash it into the wall just behind, but Buffy's disembodied laughter was louder.

"I slipped in the cream!" she yelled through her giggles.

The split second expression of surprise before she'd disappeared from sight had been priceless and coupled with Buffy's infectious mirth, Willow was soon laughing hard too, as much as she tried to hold it in.

Shaking his head, but smiling, Giles said patiently. "As much as I fully support this activity, perhaps it would be less messy if Xander practised his catching for a little while instead."

"Are you saying there's something wrong with my catching?" Xander asked light-heartedly.

"Not at all." Without looking up from the book in his hands Giles picked a melon from the table and threw it at him.

Xander reacted quick enough but his catch was a little off and after much hand-slapping as he tried to get a grip on it, it flew over his right shoulder and smashed open on the floor behind him.

"Okay, was that really necessary?" Xander asked with a little less good-humour as he turned to stare at the remains of the melon.

Giles smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

Willow fell to her knees with laughter.

Xander shrugged. "You're taking Buff to Cleveland tomorrow to replace all this stuff as punishment."

Giles nodded. "Done."

Buffy finally pulled herself back up by the counters. She was even more cream-stained than before. It was even in her hair.

"No giving up," she said. "We can do this." Then she noticed the melon. "Hey, that was my supper!"

Her disgruntled tone increased Willow's giggles and she crawled over to inspect the shattered fruit.

"Most of its still edible."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Xander picked up the two pieces, leaving a lot of red mush on the floor, and smooshed them together. "See for yourself."

He pretended to throw them to her.

"No!" Buffy jumped back with her hands raised and slipped over again with a little scream. "Okay, I think that one caused a concussion."

Willow collapsed onto her side, weak from laughing. Even Giles was chuckling aloud now. Xander went to dump the melon haves onto the draining board and helped Buffy up.

"I think that's enough throwing and catching practise for one night," he said. "Otherwise what food doesn't end up on the floor is gonna get spoiled anyway."

"I agree." Giles stacked some of the packages of meat up and carried them to the counter closest to the fridge. "I think it would prove less expensive if we practised outside tomorrow with a tennis ball instead."

From where she was still laying uncomfortably on the floor, Willow saw Xander's surprise at the suggestion better than maybe Giles or Buffy did. He didn't seem to know how to react at first and she saw interest, temptation and exasperation cross his face.

Eventually he settled on a neutral, "If you think it's worth the time."

Giles grinned over his shoulder at him as he gathered another stack from the table. "Of course. It will be fun."

"I'm in." Buffy was rubbing the back of her head where she'd bonked it. "Will?"

Her eyes darted to Xander before she answered. He looked to her at the same time, but his expression gave nothing else away.

"Sure. If I can be any help," she said. "Uh, Buff, did you want the rest of this watermelon?" She pointed to the seedy slush next to her.

"I don't know. How clean is the floor?"

"Not." She wrinkled her nose. She couldn't see any dirt, but the stone felt gritty beneath her bare arm and her nose was definitely detecting the tingle of dust. "Probably better just to hand me some of that kitchen towel," she decided.

By the time Buffy had ripped off a great chunk to start wiping the cream from the floor and Xander had taken another dozen sheets to clear the coleslaw from the stove, there wasn't a whole lot left on the roll. He chucked it down to her without thinking and she had to roll onto her back and reach up with both hands fast to catch it.

She did though; making it a minor victory for Xander's throwing skills that night. Before she could say anything congratulatory, she sneezed.

Oh God, it was freezing, literally. Had she teleported to the Arctic Circle this time. Looking around she saw a familiar bench, a familiar training barn and, when she turned around, a familiar back door. Just their garden then. Not particularly comforted by that – after all, she hadn't planned to come out here and she had no coat on – she hurried back to the house. If she wasn't sick already, staying out here another minute was going to make her.

She rushed in the back door, shivering hard, to find everyone staring at her. She sneezed.

It was very dark but at least it was warm. Too warm. Xander must have lit a fire earlier to stave off the chilly evening. She could feel it roasting her socked feet. She was in the fricking chimney! She struggled in the claustrophobic flue but before pure panic could set in the soot made her sneeze.

"Oh God, Oh God, Oh God!" she yelped.

She was back in the kitchen and her feet felt burnt. She hopped forward, deliberately landing in the watermelon guts and breathed a silent sigh as they cooled her soles.

Her friends surrounded her, asking questions, but she didn't know the answer to any of them and was too freaked to hear them clearly anyway.

Buffy grabbed her arm tightly, earthing her attention a little. "Willow, what's happening to you?"

"I don't…"

She sneezed again and the cold was back. It had brought a strong wind with it for companionship. Willow's eyes were closed and she really didn't want to open them.

Hearing Buffy say, "Oh shit!" changed her mind.

"Where are we?" All she knew was that they were perching on something cold, hard and sloping. Nothing looked recognisable.

"I think…" Buffy was looking around trying to figure that out. "…On the roof."

"The roof!"

Willow wasn't scared of heights but she was scared of falling off the top of a three-storey house. As she twisted to check the validity of Buffy's guess, she started to slip down the tiles.

"Buffy!"

"I got you," Buffy promised, catching her arm and pulling her back up to the pinnacle.

"No, let go of me!" Willow struggled out of her firm grip, nearly slipping again. "There's no telling where I might sneeze us to next time."

"Don't worry about that. Look, just hold on to the chimney stack while I find the best way down."

"I don't like chimneys any more!" Willow felt close to meltdown. Which was weird seeing as she was once again freezing her ass off.

"Well, you don't have to be best friends with it, just hold on." Buffy started inching her way down the tiles. "You know, when I said I wanted to sit on the roof and howl at the moon tonight, I was just joking."

Willow gave a strained chuckle. As Buffy's feet slipped on the icy tiles, she blurted, "Be careful."

"I am. Just going to see how far it is to the balcony from up here. I can drop down and then catch…"

The smoke coming from the chimney made Willow sneeze.

She was shivering hard still, but it felt good to be out of the wind. She stepped back out of the oogy watermelon remains as her friends gathered round. Buffy went to grab her arm.

"Don't touch me!" She jumped further back.

"Sorry, I…" Buffy looked hurt on top of the confusion already deep set on her face. "I just…"

Willow pointed at her. "You're… you're on the roof."

Buffy looked down at herself. "Okay, weirdest insult of the night goes to..."

Barely listening, Willow yanked open the back door and ran out into the freezing night. She ran far enough from the house to be able to see the roof clearly. There was no silhouette against the indigo-blue of the night sky, but there were plenty of deep shadows.

"Buffy! Buffy!" She called up.

When there was no answer, Willow ran back into the house.

"What was that about?" Buffy asked.

"Will, are you okay?" Xander asked, she pulled back as he tried to put his arm around her.

"Perhaps you should sit…" Giles began with grave concern.

She felt dizzy and her eyes went blurry. Seconds later she felt her body hit the stone kitchen floor as she passed out.

[End of Act One]


	6. Act 2

Sorry for the gap - was busy finishing up my course for the year. Thanks for the reviews for the last part.

* * *

Act Two

The good thing about having back stairs and front stairs, Buffy thought, was that you never had to carry unconscious people too far to get them comfortably in their own beds.

"Xan, could you get the door?"

He pushed it and walked in to hold it open for Buffy. Either he'd forgotten it wasn't the kind that didn't spring closed on its own, or he was using his brain for panicking instead of thinking, like she was.

Giles crowded her from behind as she set Willow on the bed, taking care that her head landed softly on the pillows.

"Loosen her clothes."

"She's wearing a t-shirt, loosening it means cutting it and she's already mad enough with me." Buffy pulled gently at the neck of the shirt anyway. "Someone get her socks off; they're soaking."

Xander did so. "What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know." Buffy smoothed some strands of Willow's hair back from her brow. "I've never known anyone pass out from sneezing before."

"It wasn't the sneezing, it was the magic," Giles said as he moved around to the other side of the bed. He checked the pulse in her wrist. "Of course, the sneezing does appear to be a physical manifestation of the magic. Do either of you know if this has happened before?"

Buffy shook her head. "She's burning up."

Xander raised his hand. "Uh, yeah, it happened the other day. She was on the phone, sneezed and disappeared into the basement." He frowned and added more quietly. "I got mad at her. I thought she'd done it deliberately."

"Why would you think that?" Giles asked impatiently. When Xander just shrugged, he continued, "You should have mentioned it to someone at least."

"I know that now!"

"I'm gonna go get a wet flannel for her head," Buffy said.

She wasn't interested in listening to them bicker right now. She was too worried. Willow didn't do any teleporting these days because the magic needed to make it go was too strong, but she had done a lot tonight and apparently by accident. That couldn't be good on any level.

Xander stopped her before she could move away from the bed.

"I'll go. You stay with her." He left.

She glanced up at Giles. "I don't think he needs a lecture about this right now."

"I don't intend to give him one right now; but he does need to start remembering that his own issues cannot distract him from his responsibility here."

She wasn't aware it had. What with his responsibility being to fix the camp up and keep it that way. Him not telling them about Willow was bad, maybe, but she couldn't see how it affected that. She didn't say any of this, though, it wasn't important.

"Do you have any ideas on what magic is causing it?"

Giles shook his head. "None for sure. Although, as far as I'm aware, the only magic she's done recently is the spell against the demons the other week."

He looked sheepish, probably because he'd been the one to insist she did the spell that backfired on their butts. Buffy felt sheepish too, she'd been pretty insisty too.

"Could that have done this?"

"Willow and I have both researched the spell, with Andrew and Naomi's help, and we found nothing that I feel points to an affliction of teleporting through sneezing. However, now I have definitive symptoms to work with, I'll go over all of the information again."

Xander came back with a rung-out, wet wash cloth. "Did she come round yet?"

"Not yet." And that was making Buffy more worried.

When the spell had hit them in the woods, Willow had only been out for five, ten minutes. It had already been longer than that now. She took the flannel as Xander handed it to her and shook it out. Folding it back up neatly, she placed it gently on Willow's brow, the way her Mom had done for her whenever she'd had a fever.

Xander went to stand at the foot of the bed again for a moment, but then went to the double wardrobe in the corner.

"Do we have a why yet?"

"Possibly it was the spell she used against the demons," Giles said as he checked her pulse again. "But until I look into it further, I'm not sure how it could be causing this. I think she'll be okay, though. Her pulse is strong and she appears to be breathing easily. Her temperature is probably a result of her immune system trying to fight the magic inside her."

"Yeah, or killer teleporty flu." Buffy smiled slightly; it faded quickly. "We need more info on these demons, Giles. Proper, up to date data, not just the stuff in your age-old books."

"How do you suggest…" Giles began.

"The usual. I need to find a demon and make it talk."

"I'm not sure if that's wise, Buffy."

"I agree with Buff," Xander said as he came back with a blanket made of crocheted squares in different shades of green. "If there was a simple, obvious cure-all for this in your books, you'd have found it already. I'm not saying stop looking, but maybe we need more."

"And everyone knows the best material comes straight from the source," Buffy added as she helped Xander spread the blanket over Willow; taking care to tuck it around her feet so they wouldn't get cold.

"They're very dangerous, Buffy."

"As a group, sure, but maybe I'll get lucky and find one alone. If not, I'll try something else."

"Like what?" Xander asked.

She shrugged. "Like I said, maybe I'll get lucky."

She was thinking of Owen. He probably wouldn't be at his shop this late, but she could always try his house. If he'd been living in this joint as long as the locals seemed to think so, maybe he'd encountered these demons before. And he was a wizard, they knew magic stuff. Even if he didn't know about the demons, he might know a cure for teleporty sneezing.

Besides, she'd kept completely quiet about his secret. She hadn't even divulged to Giles yet, although she was planning to at some point, probably. But right now he owed her a favour for keeping shtum.

"Well, if you've made up your mind," Giles began.

"I have. I can't just sit here worrying. I need to do something." She squeezed Willow's hand and spoke only to her for a moment. "Just fight it off, Will, you're stronger than any magic, remember?"

Leaning low, she kissed Willow's temple, wetting her nose on the flannel.

"Right, I'm going hunting."

"Yes, and I must hit the books. It'll take me all night to go through the information we've already gathered." As Buffy walked to the door with him, Giles looked over his shoulder. "Are you coming to help?"

Xander was carrying the dressing table chair over to the side of the bed.

"No, I'm staying here. But feel free to bring a bunch of books up for me to read through."

Settling the chair where he wanted it, he sat down and took one of Willow's hands between both of his own.

* * *

Kennedy sat in the middle of the summer meadow – the bright blooms of wild flowers stretching away on every side as far as she could see. She smiled and breathed their fresh scent in deep before plucking a buttercup from beside her and holding it up to her face.

She stroked the small, soft petals over her cheek before turning to Willow and holding the flower under her chin. Willow giggled as it tickled her and tried to push her hand away, but Kennedy held firm.

"If your chin goes yellow it means you like butter," she explained.

"Really, I thought it meant you had jaundice," Willow said, still giggling.

Kennedy sighed softly. "You always have to ruin the beautiful thing."

Willow stopped laughing and the sky went a dark red as the sudden wind whipped up blood coloured clouds. Kennedy scrambled back, squashing flowers, as the witch's eyes went black.

"No, you always ruin a beautiful thing!"

Kennedy jerked awake, breathing hard and sweating despite the chill in the dormitory. The bedcovers were skewed where she'd scrambled physically while caught in the dream. She rubbed her forehead, feeling the perspiration beneath her sweaty palm and sighed for real.

These dreams were getting real old.

"We split up, for Christ's sake," she shouted at her subconscious. "So stop torturing me!"

She lay still for a while, trying not to think about the dream or Willow, or anything else, hoping she'd fall asleep again. She'd been patrolling until two and hadn't fallen asleep until hours after that.

Normally, she had a post patrol ritual, as most of the Slayers did. She came home, went in to eat whatever Andrew had left lying around, had a shower, watched television for a bit and then came out to the barn to sleep. She hadn't felt like it last night. With Andrew away, there was no cooked food, and with all the other Slayer's away, she hadn't felt like sitting in front of the television alone. So she had taken a quick shower in the finally finished freezing cold shower block and gone straight to the dorm.

As a result she'd lain awake for the best part of the hours of darkness, fidgeting and thinking about the only thing she ever thought about when she was alone: Willow.

It would have been nice to blame this morning's dream on that, but truthfully she had at least one Willow-centric, nice until it wasn't, dream every night.

Bearing that in mind, she decided against going back to sleep, and pulled her weary self from the narrow bed. She started shivering immediately. It was definitely time to get on at Xander about the heat again. In a way it was nice having the whole dorm to herself every night – like having a giant bedroom with several varieties of clothes and toiletries to exploit – but she would swear it was a lot colder in here now than it had been when the room had more occupants.

Going to her locker – a month ago she'd had part shares in a double wardrobe and now she had a four-by-two metal locker with two shelves, two drawers and a small cupboard – she pulled out clean clothes and dressed quickly.

Xander's plumber had fitted two little sinks up, one at either end, and she brushed her teeth in the one closest to her bed, which was also the one closest to the door. She ran the hot tap as well as the cold; just she could put her toothbrush hand under it to stop it freezing in the cold water. She splashed a little of both on her face when she was done and then had to run back to her bed so she could rub her face and hands dry quick with her towel.

All of this was extreme hardship to her. Even before her Mom had married her millionaire boss, they'd lived in pretty sweet accommodation thanks to her Mom's well paid job. Buffy's house in Sunnydale had been a shock to the system, even worse than boarding school, but despite the toilet clogging up with alarming regularity and the lack of chef-cooked – anyone cooked – food, it had been a damn sight more luxurious than this.

She shouldn't have given up her stake in the bedroom so fast, but it had seemed easy at the time. She couldn't sleep in the same room as Willow anymore, not once they'd broken up, so she had decided to be gallant.

Stupid move.

She pulled on a hoodie over her long-sleeved t-shirt and headed for the house. Hoping coffee would warm her up.

Faith was in the kitchen, but Kennedy didn't acknowledge her. Her black eye had faded now, but she still felt a little sore at the unnecessary punch the other Slayer had thrown.

"Hey Squirt," Faith greeted her friendly enough.

"Don't call me that," she grunted, heading straight to the coffee pot.

It was cold, but she poured herself a mug anyway and stuck it in the microwave. Goorzar had heard her voice and came gambolling in from the living room. Kennedy squatted immediately and scooped her up, relishing the heat coming from the fuzzy haired demon baby.

"What's got your panties in a twist already?" Faith asked.

She had the newspaper open on the table but she was leaning on it rather than reading it. A plate of toast crumbs was holding down one corner and she'd obvious only just finished eating because she brushed more crumbs from her hands onto the open sheets of the paper.

"Other people want to read that, you know?"

"What's stopping them?"

The microwave pinged and Kennedy shifted Goorzar to one arm so she could open the door and take her drink out. Between the demon's body heat and palming her mug she started to feel warm and more with it again; so when Faith said,

"Nuke a mug for me, would ya?"

She did so.

"It'll probably have Goorzie hairs in it," she said as hit the start button.

"I'll live." Faith closed the paper, crumbs inside, and pushed it across the table. "How come that thing loves you so much anyway?"

"She's not a thing."

Faith just shrugged.

"She thinks I'm her Mommy," Kennedy said, feeling shy for some reason.

"And she thinks Andy's her daddy?" Faith laughed. "There something going on there we should know about?"

Kennedy rolled her eyes and smiled a little. "What do you think?"

The microwave'd beeped again and Kennedy took Faith's coffee out. She carried it over and put it on the table, and before Faith could protest, she set Goorzar on her lap.

"Have a cuddle; you'll see the appeal." She went back to fetch her own coffee again. "So where is everyone?"

Faith sat with her arms out, not touching Goorzar anywhere she didn't have to. "Beats me. Haven't seen anyone all morning."

Goorzar sat comfortably on Faith's lap, but her orange eyes never left Kennedy.

"Do you know how to cuddle?" Kennedy asked sarcastically.

"Not usually in the business of cuddling demons."

"It helps if you think of her as a dog," Buffy said as she came through the back door. "Although, not really."

The elder Slayer looked beat up, worn out and distracted. Kennedy moved instantly to pour more coffee and warm it up.

"You okay, B?" Faith looked like she wanted to jump up and go to her, but didn't know how to with the demon on her lap.

"I don't know yet." Buffy kicked off sneakers that were thick with mud at the back door.

"Where ya been?" Faith asked.

"Feels like everywhere. Did either of you encounter the magic-resistant demons on patrol last night."

Faith shook her head.

Kennedy said, "Giles told us to stay away from that area."

Buffy nodded. The microwave pinged again and Kennedy took Buffy's coffee out. By the time she'd turned around to hand it over, Buffy had gone up the back stairs.

"What was that about?" she asked.

Faith was fidgeting uncomfortably and trying with no avail to push Goorzar from her lap. "My guess, just B being B."

* * *

"Xan."

The soft call of his name roused Xander from the light sleep he'd fallen into. As he wearily blinked his bleary eye open he felt something slipping from his hand and jolted completely awake just in time to save the plate from landing upside down on Willow's bed. He could do nothing about the grains of bread, though, as they showered the green blanket.

"Oh crumbs!" he muttered emphatically and quirked a smile when he heard Buffy's quiet laughter.

His eye – just normal morning bleary now and not the blurry that came with trying to remember how to use just one of them – focused enough in the dim room to see her standing in the doorway.

"Morning." He set the plate on the bedside cabinet and then leaned over Willow – taking the now dry cloth from her head and feeling her brow. "She's still too warm. Find anything useful out there?"

Buffy shook her head as she came to stand on the other side of the bed. "No demons, at least, not the ones I was after. And I tried to find someone who might be able to help us but no luck on that score either."

"Who do we know around here who can help with stuff like this?"

He ran through their list of local acquaintances in his head; it didn't take long. Alex, a couple of Dawn's friends… they really had to all start getting out more.

He felt Buffy hesitate as he was checking Willow's pulse, but by the time he looked up she was shrugging.

"It's a Hellmouth town," she said. "Admittedly it's a very nice Hellmouth town, but still, you'd think there'd be like at least one grungy demon bar around catering to the Bloody Mary and Singapore Slime crowd."

"And is there?"

"If there is, I didn't find it last night, and if I can't find a demon to pummel at some point I'm probably never going to find it."

"Oz might know. He's a demon three nights a month, when he wants to be anyhow."

Buffy's tired looking eyes lit up some. "That's a great point. He might know some of the shady characters in town and where they live and whether bribing or beating works best."

Xander smiled, but it disappeared as he looked back down at Willow. There had been no change since he'd fallen asleep. On the one hand he knew that was good. He wouldn't have forgiven himself easily if she'd taken a turn to worse while he snoozed away beside her. But on the other hand she wasn't any better and that just couldn't make him feel good. She had been unconscious for eight maybe ten hours now and she still had a raging temperature.

"Do you think we should take her to the hospital?"

Buffy shrugged again. "Maybe. I think I'd feel better if a doctor checked her out. But if its mystical like Giles says then they wouldn't be able to do anything anyway and they might not let us bring her home again. That wouldn't make curing her with a spell very easy."

He nodded. "I know, I had the same conversation with Giles a few hours ago. I just wanted to get your opinion on it."

"Does Giles have anything? I haven't seen him yet."

"He didn't then. He just brought me up a sandwich and a couple of more books." He indicated the small pile by his feet. "I've been through them looking for the list of keywords he gave me but nada. Hopefully he's having better luck down there in his office."

He watched as Buffy stroked her palm over Willow's forehead and then picked up the flannel he'd left on the pillow.

"I'll go run this under some cold water."

She left the room and Xander stretched out his arms. He had been sitting in this chair all night, only moving once or twice to pace the room as he stretched his legs. Now he felt stiff and achy from dozing off in the straight backed chair. He rubbed his good eye, erasing the last of the sleep from it, and then lifted the patch covering his other eye to press tenderly around the outskirts of the socket.

It was aching this morning, not that that was uncommon, but the over-tiredness seemed to be making it worse than usual. He should put his drops in, but they were in his room and he didn't want to leave Willow's side even for the quick run there and back. He knew it wasn't so much an irrational fear that she would get worse while he was gone so much as the fact that he didn't want to give in to needing drops to function even in a situation this, well, passive.

He could wait a while longer. The soreness wasn't that bad, and he wasn't entirely convinced the drops were working anyway. It's not like they were growing him back a new eye.

Buffy came back in and placed the wash cloth over Willow's brow, fiddling with it as she made sure water wouldn't drip onto her closed eyes or down the sides of her face.

"Are you okay?"

He looked up, surprised by the question.

"Only you seem… pensive, all of a sudden," she explained.

"I'm just worried," he lied, except it wasn't really a lie what with it being partly true.

"Me too." She put her hand over Willow's. "All night I've been thinking why did this have to happen now, when we're all arguing and stuff, what if we don't get the chance to make up. And then, naturally, I beat myself up for even entertaining the idea we won't get the chance to make up. Like I was jinxing it or something." She shook her head.

"You didn't jinx it. She's gonna snap out of this soon and be fine. And then you'll get the chance to make up."

He hoped his confidence didn't sound as false to Buffy as it did to him. Not that he didn't believe it… He just really needed Willow to wake up now and prove him right before he started to not believe it.

It seemed to have worked. Buffy smiled at him. "Okay, well I'm all gross from running the length and breadth of Boudenver all night so I'm gonna take a shower. When I'm done, I'll take over from you, so you can get some proper un-chairy sleep, okay?"

"I'm fine here," he said firmly.

"I never said you weren't, but you don't have to do the silent vigil all day as well as all night. We can take turns at Willow-shifts." She smiled again but it looked more for the sake of it this time. "I'll take the next one and you can take the one right after that."

"Okay." He agreed this time, if only to make Buffy feel better.

Buffy squeezed Willow's hand. "I'll see you in a little while."

He wasn't sure which one of them she was talking to, but she left without saying anything else. He watched the empty doorway for a moment, willing Giles to come through it with news, but it remained empty.

He stretched again, feeling it pull deliciously on his arms and shoulders for a second or two. He looked around the room and then leant over to pick up one of the books by his feet. He didn't think he'd get anything more from it than he did the first time, but at least he'd be doing something.

He didn't want to leave Willow's side, not even when Buffy came back. He knew he wouldn't sleep for as long as his best friend was unconscious. Rationally, though, he knew a break from this room was what he needed before he went crazy with the concern that felt palpable now; like his anxiety over Willow's condition was a physical thing, shrouding him and making, for instance, his eye sting more and more.

Maybe he wouldn't sleep, but he could get some coffee, sit for a while in the kitchen, or maybe join Giles in his office – do something more helpful with the books in there than he was managing with the books up here. Or he could get on with some work. That was always a sure-fire way of taking his mind off his problems, it was why he was happy to do so much of it these days.

He wouldn't leave the house, not with Willow in what he was starting to think of as a critical state, but there was stuff he could bring in to work on. There was the new batch of shutters or the horse head weather vane to go on the stable roof to paint. Inside the house the phone still need repairing – if he could figure out how to do it.

A soft groan from the bed jerked him out of his thoughts.

"Will?" He sat forward excitedly but half convinced he'd imagined the noise as he had a dozen times in the night.

But, no, Willow groaned again, eyes still closed but working her lips like her mouth was impossibly dry.

Plucking the flannel from her head, his squeezed it a little to get some moisture out and then held it to her lips.

"Willow. Hey. Are you with me?"

She said something, but it was muffled by the cloth. Xander went to pull it away, but she distinctly said "No!" then, so he let it rest against her mouth again while with his other hand he reached for the Mountain Dew Giles had brought up for him earlier.

"Nice of you to finally join us," he said with a smile. "Can you sit up a little?"

"Enngh."

"It just might mean the difference between you drinking this or me drowning you in it."

Her eyes opened and when she saw the glass he was holding she pushed his hand and the flannel away and tried to sit up. Seeing her struggling, he set the glass down and helped her. Propping the pillows behind her back and holding her elbow while she got herself positioned comfortably.

Once she was settled he picked up the glass again and handed it over. She drank a small sip and then rested, then a slightly longer sip and rested again.

"How are you feeling?"

She weakly raised one hand and he waited. A few seconds later she lifted the glass again and drained all of it in one go.

"Thirsty," she finally said.

"But alive and awake, so all in all…" He grinned at her.

"What happened?"

"We were kinda hoping you could tell us," he admitted.

She shook her head a little. "I had a sneezing fit… which came accompanied by the new teleporting application and then…" She shook her head again.

"You passed out."

"For long?"

He shrugged one shoulder. "Only all night, no big."

"All night?" She sounded shocked, and then, as her eyes darted to the window, seeing the daylight through her thin curtain, worried, but then she smiled. "Did you stay with me all night?"

He felt suddenly… uncomfortable was as good a word as any. "Of course."

When she had been unconscious it had been the most natural thing ever to not leave her side, but now she was awake and talking and beaming at him like everything was suddenly alright with the world, it just made him feel annoyed again. Like all the worry and concern and anxiety over whether she would wake up again was just some big joke on him. Irrational, oh for sure, he knew that, but he couldn't help that feeling welling up in him even if he didn't really understand where it was coming from.

He tried to ignore it, hoping if he did, bygones would just be bygones.

"That's nice," she said, still smiling at him – and how could that possibly make him more agitated?

"Well, we were worried," he said, his voice sounding flat to him, already the excitement over her being awake felt lost. "And Buffy went out to find the demons that caused it and Giles was downstairs looking for ways to cure you and Kennedy and Faith were both out patrolling so I was the only one left to make sure you didn't, like, throw up in your coma or die or anything."

Willow's face fell. He knew his had already fallen a few minutes ago so he wasn't so bothered. That felt wrong, it all felt wrong, but… He didn't have an answer.

"Well, thanks for staying," Willow said quietly.

"You're welcome."

He winced because he'd said it so automatically, without so much of as an ounce of real emotion. He could have been speaking to a stranger he'd just excused for bumping into him. After a few seconds of looking at the blanket covering her instead of actually at her, he decided to just cut his losses.

"So I need to get some sleep before I just pass out on top of you." He stood and, after a moment's consideration, leaned down to kiss her forehead and straightened back up with a forced smile. "Glad you're okay, Will. I'll see you later."

Hopefully after he'd kicked this stupid angry feeling to the curb.

He walked around the bed to the door, but stopped before going through it.

"Oh, Buff's in the shower but she'll be here in a minute so you won't be alone."

"Okay," she said softly, clearly upset by his obvious need to get away.

He wanted to say something to make it better, but in the end he just nodded and left.

* * *

_Thanks for reading. More soon._


	7. Act 2:2

Sorry again for the delay and thanks for the reviews for the last part.

* * *

Willow lay in bed, dejectedly flicking crumbs off her green crocheted blanket.

Xander would obviously prefer to spend time with her unconscious self than her awake self if the way he'd gone running out of here was any kind of litmus test.

Buffy had come in freshly showered and gushing with how happy she was that Willow was wide awake again, but she'd been too exhausting. At least, that was the excuse Willow had used to get rid of her.

Really, she just couldn't get past the idea that Buffy was only being gushy because she thought Willow expected it. And, okay, Buffy's concern _was_ nice, but if it was just for show, just because of the argument they'd had the other night, well… it wasn't real so what was the point of putting them both through the charade.

That was probably uncharitable, in fact, there was probably no charitable about it, but she was still feeling woozy and sick, really really sick. She just couldn't take the big best friends make-up thing right now. She didn't have the energy to do her part, she didn't have the concentration to accept Buffy's part and besides, in the back of her mind, in that tiny, shadowy part that she didn't really acknowledge, she'd already decided she wasn't forgiving Buffy until Xander had forgiven her.

She knew it wasn't fair, but she didn't care right now. She was feeling terrible all the time about the Xander thing, but Buffy and Xander were still all happy and friendly and close. She had been Xander's friend first! But that didn't seem to matter to anyone but her anymore. So why should Buffy be let off the hook, and be all la-di-dah with life again, if she wasn't.

So after maybe ten tense minutes, Buffy had left. Willow had been fidgeting on her bed ever since. Partly because she hated the way things were with her two best friends and partly because she'd obviously been sweating heavily all night and was desperate for a shower, but felt too sick to move.

It was twenty minutes later that Giles came in.

"Willow. I'm so glad you're awake." He came to the edge of the bed and took her sweaty, gross hand. "You had us quite worried."

"So I gathered." She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Don't be daft. We're just all glad you're feeling better." He handed over a bottle of water and, noticing how eagerly she took it, said, "Are you hungry too. I could make you a sandwich."

She shook her head and put a hand to her mouth as the suggestion made her feel even more nauseous. "No food, please."

"Okay." He smiled tenderly. "Well, you'll be pleased to know I think I've found the cause of your affliction."

"Really?" She pulled herself higher up on her pillows.

"The spell you performed the other night – the one to lift the magical protection from the demons – may not have just amplified as it rebounded, but something in the spell they were using may also have changed its nature somewhat. It's not unusual among the more magical demons to have something woven into their natural defences that also acts as an attack mechanism. Of course, the Meluthian Hedrays aren't supposed to be magical, but I think this may be what we are dealing with all the same."

"Yeah, some witches do it too. Especially the darker ones." Willow frowned. "But that doesn't tell us what the spell actually changed into. I mean, if it had started making me get teleporty with it right then and there, I could understand the point, but why did it only start happening later?"

The expression on Giles' face alone was enough to make her extra uneasy.

"Now understand, we don't know anything for sure yet…"

"Giles, just tell me."

"I don't think the point of the spell was to make you teleport every time you sneezed. I think the spell attacked, _is_ attacking, the magic inside of you. It's infecting the magic you already have and, well, damaging it in some way."

Willow sat quietly for a moment digesting that.

"So that doesn't sound good," she said eventually.

Giles shook his head.

"So it's like a virus?"

"In a manner of speaking. It would be fair to say that the spell is now living in the magical cells in your body. Unfortunately the results are going to be far less ordinary or as predictable as a bad headache and runny nose."

"I was thinking more of a computer virus anyway."

"Computers can get sick?" he asked, his expression horrified.

She stared at him, dumbfounded. "You're joking, right?"

He looked offended. "Apparently I've just said something stupid. Although as I'm not the one talking about machines getting poorly, I'm not sure how."

She shook her head, smiling a little at him. "Giles, have you learnt nothing since we've been in the twenty-first century. Yes, computers can get sick, just obviously not like you and me. Mean people make viruses and send them out into the internet to pray on unprotected computers. It's big business for some people out there. The not so evil ones just mess your computer up – makes it do stuff you haven't told it to do. Kinda like if every time you said sit down it stood up instead… not that computers can sit down or stand up but you get my drift."

He sort of looked like he did. "Go on, what do the really evil ones do?"

"Copy all your personal details off your hard drive and then burn out your motherboard usually."

"And in layman's terms?" he asked, like he wasn't the only person under ninety who didn't know what a motherboard was.

"Steal your wallet and then kill you."

"I see."

"So do you think I have a magical computer virus?"

He sighed and perched on the edge of her bed. "Yes, I think I'm rather afraid that I do."

Silence fell between them and Giles took her hand again.

"So…" she asked after a while. "Not so evil or really evil?"

"It's too early to say for sure, but at the moment I think you should prepare yourself for not so evil. Clearly teleporting when you sneeze is an indication that some wires…" He tried to smile. "… have gotten a little crossed. The spell inside you is over-riding your own control over your magic. I understand this is enough to distress you, but keep in mind it could be worse. You could be sending out magical death rays every time you sneezed instead. Of course, if it gets worse, that might still happen…"

Willow's eyes opened wide in alarm and he trailed off.

"But we'll certainly find a cure before that happens," he continued with overenthusiastic certainty. "In fact I should probably get back to the books right now. Try not to worry. A…and try not to sneeze if you can help it. A little teleporting around the house probably won't do more than tire you out like last night, but if it should worsen… well, you might start teleporting farther a field."

He seemed to realise he was freaking her out more and more and stood up.

"I'll be back as soon as I have more news."

He squeezed her hand again and then almost ran from the room looking as panicked as she felt.

Willow's eyes stayed wide, unable to relax now. Hardly surprising! Giles hadn't exactly made any of that sound hopeful. She hadn't felt so rough while they'd been talking. Probably the sheer horror had quelled it for a little while. Now she felt sicker than ever though and slumped down further on her pillows.

This was all just one big fat unfair. Why now? Well, why ever, but especially now when she'd been being so good. She hadn't touched any magic – save the completely mundane exercises Althanea had been emailing to her – for a couple of months.

After she'd gotten a little zap-happy thanks to the lust spell she'd been really careful. Desperate to get a better control on her magic so that if another lust spell ever cropped up she wouldn't succumb so easy. It looked like that was all moot now, if her magic was going to get all out of control anyway. And she wouldn't even get the fun of picking the spells herself.

Something Giles said came back to her, about only teleporting around the house. She should have mentioned that she was pretty sure she had gone back in time too. If only by about a minute. She hadn't even known that was possible, not just for her but for anyone. Time travel was science fiction. Okay, so was most of what their daily lives involved, but time travel really was… well, fiction.

For the first time since she'd known him she really wished Andrew was around. If there was ever a geek who'd know the ins and outs of the realities of time travel it would be him. But he was in Oregon with his folks and Craig. Xander might know stuff, but then, Xander was hardly speaking to her.

She pulled the blanket up to her chin. What if this was really bad? What if Giles couldn't find a cure and her magic just got more and more unpredictable. It might be permanently corrupted, her hard drive wiped and, ultimately, her motherboard wiped.

With a gulp she pulled the blanket over her head.

* * *

Buffy stepped back from the stove, pushing steam-damp strands escaped from her ponytail behind her ears.

"Okay, yams a-boiling, cornstarch a-dissolving. What's next?"

Xander looked at the list on the kitchen table. "Now you gotta boil all the rest up together."

"Okay, that sounds easy enough." Buffy grabbed another saucepan from the cupboard and carried it to the chopping board.

She'd decided to do a little taster of everything today. Just so she could be sure she would manage tomorrow when it came to cooking for the whole family. So far it was proving harder than she remembered – and she was only on the first one – but she just kept telling herself it was because she wasn't used to the recipe.

"So how was Willow when you spoke to her?" Xander asked out of the blue.

Buffy was pleased he asked, even if she didn't have anything great to report.

"Stand-offish. She said she felt too ill to talk, but I think she really just wanted me gone."

It had hurt but she was too happy that Willow was awake and okay to let it get to her. They'd had a mini breakthrough the night before with the laughing. It would happen again. For now she was just going to take her mind off it with the cooking.

"Giles still seems really worried."

"You know Giles. Worry is his middle name. She's awake, talking and coherent enough to still be mad at me. She's going to be fine." She looked in the pan. "Right, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg."

She picked a fresh lemon from the side and started to grate the rind directly into the pan.

"Don't put too much in," he cautioned.

"I know what I'm doing," she lied chirpily. "But what exactly are you doing?"

He looked up from the many oily parts he had on a sheet of newspaper. "The truck's been guzzling gas and making funny noises. So I'm fixing it."

Buffy put the lemon down and turned to the table. "That's part of the truck?"

"Yep, part of the engine part anyway."

"Which part of the engine part?"

He looked from the parts to the mechanics book beside him to the stove. "Your yams are boiling over."

She turned back and lowered the heat, but spoke over her shoulder. "You have no idea, do you?"

"Sure I do. It's the part that's making the funny noise."

"That's reassuring."

"Hey, have I questioned your cooking ability this morning!"

"One or twice, yeah." Buffy turned long enough to grin at him and then poured a little fresh orange juice into the pan. "Why are you bothering with that this morning anyway?"

"I wanted to stay in the house but its too cold sit on the doorstep painting shutters and I don't have the cord I need to fix the phone. This was the only other indoor job I could think of."

"I'm not sure fixing greasy car parts is an indoor job. Especially on the kitchen table when I'm practising for Thanksgiving. If you wanna be near Will so bad why not take them up to her bedroom to fix?"

"Because I don't want to be near her_ that_ bad."

"You need to sort things out with her," Buffy stirred her mixture thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Instead of answering, Xander countered, "Have you spoken to Faith about her session yet?"

She shook her head but didn't turn around. "I only saw her for two minutes this morning and I was too worried about Willow to talk. I don't know where she is now."

"Rubbing down the stables so we can start painting Friday."

Buffy nodded. "I'll catch up with her later then."

"I can always finish the yams off if you wanna go see her now."

"No, you'll ruin it."

"It's my recipe!"

"Yeah, so? I know your cooking repertoire, Xan. Pancakes, eggs, toast and microwave meals. Besides, Faith's obviously not dying to tell me all about it."

As she was taking the yams off the boil and trying to fish them out with a pair of tongs, there was a knock at the door.

"It's open," Xander called out, not bothering to move from his engine parts.

Buffy looked over her shoulder again and smiled to see who it was.

"Oz. What brings you to our neck of the woods? Wow, never thought I'd say that and mean it literally."

Oz smiled, his eyes casually checking out the kitchen. Seeing just the two of them, he came in.

"Willow was doing a thing for me and I wanted to see how she's getting on. I tried calling a few days ago but we got cut…" he'd spotted the telephone wire dangling uselessly from the wall-mounted phone jack. "…off."

Buffy smirked. "Bet you never thought you'd say that and mean it literally, either."

"Explains why I haven't been able to get through since."

"I'm fixing it," Xander said. "But until then we're making the cell phone companies a small fortune."

"I only have Willow's number and I didn't want to put any pressure on her."

Leaning over the counter, Buffy grabbed the pen and pad from beside the phone and copied three numbers down from the list pinned to the wall.

"That's Xander's, Giles' and mine." She tore the page off and handed it to Oz. "Should keep you going for now."

The contents of her saucepan began to boil and for a frantic moment she shuffled through pieces of paper on the counter, trying to find the one with the yam recipe.

"It's here," Xander reminded her. "Add the cornstarch."

"You're sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. Are you doubting my sureness? Do I not look surer than you right now?"

She glanced over as she picked up the bowl of cornstarch. "You look oily."

"Good comeback."

"Hey, I'm cooking here; and it just so happens that cooking and quipping come from the same part of the brain. So I can only do one or the other, okay?"

"Is that true?"

"Didn't you ever listen in biology?"

"Did you?"

Smiling at them, Oz tucked the list of numbers in his pocket. "So, is Willow okay?"

Buffy stopped stirring; remembering that she wasn't. She'd managed to forget for ten minutes or so, which was probably okay now that Willow was awake, but made her feel guilty all the same.

Should they tell Oz? There was no doubt he still cared about her and would want to know, but Buffy wasn't sure it was the best thing for Willow. Did she need the added pressure of a worried, hovering Oz? Giles had said she needed lots of peace and quiet. Willow wasn't going to get that if she had to try and avoid Oz, assuming she wanted to. It wouldn't help things between her and Kennedy either.

"Only she's seemed a little, I don't know, odd the last few times we've spoken."

Buffy almost laughed at that, wondering how he could sound so surprised about it. Since he'd arrived he'd been like the werewolf in their hen house and it was Willow he wanted to… well, eat.

Putting it like that, she decided, stirring the saucepan again, it was probably better if Oz didn't know. Now the immediate danger had passed and Willow was going to be fine. Maybe exactly what Willow needed to make her decision once and for all was some enforced bed rest and lots of nothing to do but think.

Xander obviously wasn't on the same thought-track as her. "Actually, she's sick. Some magic bug. Giles is pretty worried."

Buffy looked around to see Oz looking stricken. It was a weird expression to see on his usual calm face.

"Will she be okay?"

"Definitely," Buffy said, with more certainty than she had. "But she needs lots of uninterrupted rest…"

"She's in bed if you want to go see her." Buffy glared at Xander and he held his hands out. "What? It's nice to have visitors when you're sick. Here."

Using just the very tips of his oily fingers he picked a small bunch of grapes out of the fruit bowl.

"Give her these," he handed them to Oz. "Fruit and sick people go together like crackers and cream-cheese. Actually now I come to think of it, crackers and cheese and sick people go pretty well together too. Do we have any crackers and cheese? Did I somehow miss breakfast?" He rubbed his stomach, getting an engine grease handprint on his t-shirt. "Any chance those yams are done yet?"

"Do they look done?" Buffy snapped, annoyed with him. "Hey, Oz," she stopped him with a foot on the back stairs. "She's really not well, okay? That pressure you were talking about not putting on her, she _really_ doesn't need it right now."

"I understand." He went up the stairs, get well grapes in hand.

"What are you suddenly so huffy about?"

"Willow's in bed, feeling lousy, and you've just sent Oz up there."

"So?" Xander went back to his truck parts.

"So, I can promise you Willow is thinking one of two things right now. A) Oh God, why can't Oz take the hint that I'm not interested, I feel way too horrible to deal with his unwanted attention right now. Or, B) Oh God, why did Oz have to see me like this. Now he's gonna lose interest and I feel way too horrible to do the necessary to keep him paying attention."

Xander stared at her for a beat and then back down at his work. "I'd forgotten how complicated you women are. If the situation was reversed, men would just think, 'Yay, sexy woman bringing me grapes and hopefully putting her cool hand on my feverish brow.' And then the thinking stops there. See, way less complicated."

"You think Oz is sexy?" Buffy smirked over her shoulder. "I thought Andrew was more your type."

"I don't have a man-type. We can't all get away with being slutty bisexuals like you."

"Hey! Watch who you're calling slutty, mister. I happen to have deadly accuracy with this wooden spoon."

"Sorry, but you gotta admit, _that _was a good comeback."

"Whatever." The mixture in the saucepan was thick and clear now so she removed it from the heat and plopped a knob of butter in. "We shouldn't have let Oz go up there yet. Not without one of us asking her at least. What if she wanted to see Kennedy first? Kennedy lives here. Kennedy's her most recent ex. She should have got first dibs on visiting."

"This is useless." Xander dropped a metal cog-shaped piece onto the newspaper with a thunk before looking up. "Like you said, she lives here, that gave her automatic first dibs. Obviously she doesn't want to see Willow as much as you think she does. In fact, she's made herself pretty scarce this morning. She hasn't even bothered asking how Willow's doing."

As Buffy poured the sauce over the tray of yams, she turned sharply to Xander, splashing the counter and her shirt with it.

"Does Kennedy even know she's sick?"

"How could she not know? Willow passed out cold on the kitchen floor."

"She was patrolling last night and I didn't stop to say anything this morning."

"Oops." Xander shrugged helplessly

"Ya think?"

* * *

Outside the back door Kennedy heard her name and paused, leaving Goorzar's harness only half unclipped. Instantly the young demon started to gibber about the straps holding her in place. She hated the restrictive harness, but it was useful for taking her on walks outside the camp.

They weren't walking now though and Goorzar decided to make her point a little better by pitch-poling forward onto her back and trying to wriggle out of it herself.

Kennedy didn't notice her antics any more than she noticed the fine rain that started to fall. Willow was poorly? And no one had told her because they just automatically assumed she didn't care anymore? Either she was a better actress than she gave herself credit for, or they were more stupid.

She hesitated for a moment, deciding between shouting for answers and sulking because no one had bothered to tell her. Knowing she'd go crazy with the not knowing, she slammed open the kitchen door, coming in on the tail end of their conversation.

"What's wrong with Willow?"

Xander looked up, startled by her abrupt entrance and she made an impatient 'tell me' gestures with her hand.

"We thought you knew," he said, his expression guilty.

Buffy was straightening up from putting a dish in the oven. She turned to face the back door where Kennedy was waiting, dripping on the floor.

"I was just about to come and find you."

"Well, I'm here so tell me now? Is she okay? Is it serious?"

Kennedy really hoped she was making a mountain out of a molehill, but from the looks on their faces she doubted it.

"I just heard Xander say she passed out!" she spoke with enough distress that Xander actually stood from his chair.

"She did, right where you're standing, and then she had a little sleep and now she's awake again," he said soothingly.

It didn't sooth, in fact it grated. "How long was this little sleep?"

"All night," he admitted. "But she's awake now and that's what matters, right?"

"Yeah," she muttered, leaning forward on the back of a chair, feeling the worst of the worry pass. "So do we know what it is? I mean did you just give me a heart attack because she has a head cold? Or is it as serious as you made it sound?"

Buffy came closer, wiping her hands on a tea towel before putting a gentle hand on Kennedy's shoulder.

"It's serious, but only because it's magical and we don't know a cure off hand. But Giles is on the trail and this is the stuff he's really good at. And now Willow's awake she can help him. They'll find something that'll make her better soon, I promise."

"Yeah, if I had a dollar for every time Giles and Will have put their heads together and cured Buffy from some nasty demon infection, I'd… have at least enough for a large, thick-crust pepperoni pizza. Man, I'm still hungry."

"Demon infections aren't the same as magic, though, right? I mean, demons might be supernatural, but surely when they get infected it's still just basic anatomy. But magic. Everyone keeps telling me how dangerous and unpredictable magic is – and now Willow's sick with it?"

She stared wildly around at them and they looked back, offering sympathetic looks but saying nothing. Maybe it was just that they'd already worked through the panic she was feeling now – after all they'd known all night while she'd been left in the dark alone – but it felt more like they were trying to hide how scared they really were, like she was a kid or… or an outsider.

"You can't tell me you two aren't worried about this?"

"Of course we're worried, but there's nothing we can do until Giles _gives_ us something to do. Me and Xan, and you, we're out of our league with this magic stuff, you know that."

"Yeah, we don't know what we're doing. Magic flu is virgin territory for us," Xander backed Buffy up.

Kennedy's face fell further. "If this is all so unknown how can you be so calm?"

"It's going to be fine," Buffy promised, shooting Xander a glare.

"Yeah," he rallied. "Because, you know, what are virgins for if not conquering?"

Kennedy blinked at him and then started for the back stairs.

"I'm going to see if she needs anything."

"She has an Oz."

Kennedy turned back around slowly, not quite sure her brain had processed Buffy's blurted statement properly.

"I mean," Buffy started again. "Oz is up there, already doing that… the seeing if she needs anything thing. I just thought I should warn you. That he's up there. Seeing to her… but… but not in _that_ kind of '_seeing to' _way, just… I don't really know in what way." Buffy's babble finally came to an end and she took a deep breath to compose herself.

"Uh huh." It was really all Kennedy could manage in response. She could feel her hands, feet and brain starting to tingle with anger at the thought of him up there with her. "So I take it that means she's well enough to have visitors. Good."

"Not really what I meant," Buffy said as Kennedy turned to the stairs again.

Kennedy shrugged it off. "If I have to put up with him in my house, he has to put up with me in my bedroom."

"It's not your bedroom anymore," Buffy pointed out and once again Kennedy turned to face her.

"I left something in there that I need," she said, her voice calm, her eyes steady, the shake in her hands barely noticeable.

"What is it that's so important it can't wait until Oz is gone?" Buffy asked, exasperated.

"My girlfriend."

"Oh."

"Oz took fruit," Xander said. "You should probably take some too."

"Xander!" Buffy snapped.

"What? I'm feeling guilty now about not staying neutral. The least I can do is even the odds."

"But…"

"Fruit?" Kennedy walked back towards the table.

Xander held up the fruit bowl for her, but she bypassed it and went to the counter by the fridge instead. Two Calabasas had been left there. One large and tan for tomorrow, the other smaller and green for today.

Kennedy picked up the larger one. "Check."

"I was thinking grapes." Xander held the bowl out hopefully again. "Like Oz took."

Kennedy hefted the squash in her right hand a few times, liking the weight of it.

"I'd rather do something that sets me apart from the crowd."

"Like smashing a pumpkin in Oz's face?" Buffy stepped in the way as she walked back to the stairs. "Look, I know this sucks, and I'm all for you and Willow sorting things out, but I think you should wait until he's gone. The last thing Willow needs right now is you two fighting up there."

Even if that was true, Kennedy was in no mood to listen to reason. She moved around Buffy, not looking at her, and went up the backstairs, muttering, "Then you should have found the time to tell me first."

Buffy turned from staring helplessly at her back, to glaring at Xander. "Yeah, we should have."

"Hey, don't look at me like that! You're her guardian slayer. I hadn't even seen her today until just now."

"_Guardian Slayer_? What even is that?"

"Don't play dumb. I heard you and Giles talking about it the other day. Now you're retired you get to play pretend-Watcher."

"Now who's being dumb? I'm just helping her out. That doesn't make me any kind of Watcher!"

"Obviously not, if you can't even keep your Slayer in the loop over something you should have known would make her shoot off like a bottle rocket!"

"What would you know about it, Xander?"

Goorzar trailed her soggy wet harness around their feet, trying to bug someone into taking it off properly for her. Ignored, she left muddy paw prints all over the clean kitchen floor before hiding under the table, gibbering unhappily at their raised voices.


	8. Act 2:3

Thanks for the reviews :) You know how much they make my day.

* * *

"Hey."

The soft voice from the doorway made Willow spin around, which in turn made her go dizzy and she sat down on the edge of the bed heavily. She fought the urge to put her head between her knees because all of a sudden she had company.

"Oz?"

It wasn't so much a greeting as a check that she wasn't hallucinating her ex standing at the threshold of her gloomy, slightly musty, sick room. At least the dim light from the overcast day and drawn curtains was hiding the pale green tinge that had started seeping into her skin.

"I heard you weren't feeling well. Can I come in?"

Willow looked down at her well-worn Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger too nightdress with a sigh. It was designed more for comfy than for company, but it had taken too much energy to get changed into it just to turn around and get changed back out of it again.

"I guess so; just… ah… give me a sec." She lifted up her sheets, slipped beneath them and then pulled the bedcovers up to her chin. "Okay, you can come in now."

"Cold?" He asked, coming to the edge of the bed.

"No," she smiled bashfully. "Just in my nightie. And, you know, not so much used to having boys seeing me in my nightie these days."

"Not even Xander or… what's the blond's name that shares his room?"

"Andrew; and they don't really count, not like you do anyway."

"Okay," he seemed to like that answer.

She grinned and then realised that must have sounded less like she was used to them being around and more like she had some kind of crush on him. For a moment she faltered for something to say and then settled on,

"Why don't you sit down?"

She followed his gaze to the spot on the bed next to her and then pulled an alarmed face. Gee, now he probably thought she was getting all seducey. _Hey, sit close to me; let me allure you with my cartoon nightshirt, greasy hair and pea-soup skin! _She turned abruptly on the bed, making the room spin again, and pointed to the chair Xander had left by the bed.

"Sit there, I mean. I mean, that looks like a nice place to sit – sturdy, good, straight back which is good for… for having a… a good, straight back."

She winced at herself even as she was speaking and by the time she'd finished babbling he was in the chair.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his face the picture of boyfriendly concern.

"No! For all I know I have the mystical reincarnation of the bubonic plague and I need a shower and you're sitting there all… Did you bring me grapes?"

"Sort of. It was more of a joint venture." He smiled, handing them over. "Xander gave them too me to bring up."

She wondered if she was hungry yet. With the ever-present nausea it was hard to tell, but she hadn't eaten since the night before. She plucked a grape from the stem and popped it into her mouth. The juice was delicious even if she wasn't hungry.

She saw Oz's eyes slide away from her to the edge of her headboard.

"What?"

He jerked his eyes away again fast, his face even more expressionless than usual. "Nothing."

Puzzled, she twisted awkwardly around on her pillows to look and her eyes went wide as she realised what he'd spotted.

"Oh, no, no." She shook her head hard, embarrassment making her dizzy. "They're not what you think."

He took another look. "So they're not furry black handcuffs?"

She was feeling too ill for this.

"Furry, black handcuffs, yes. But not because I've been naughty in either a sexy or an 'arrest her officer' way, but to stop me from being naughty in the future."

"Sexy naughty or 'arrest her officer' naughty?" he asked, picking a grape from the bunch for himself as he regarded her with bright, alert eyes.

"'Zap my nearest and dearest with my sudden magical death ray capabilities' naughty." She pulled out the other set that she had stashed under her pillow at Oz's interruption and then forgotten about, and showed them to him. "These wouldn't hold me if I actively wanted to get out of them, but I figured, if my magic just started firing willy-nilly these might, I don't know, restrain direct attacks a little?"

She twirled the closed wrist loop around her finger a couple of times, watching it, and then twisted to attach them to the other side of the headboard.

"Might stop me from teleporting myself to 1940's Europe or worse anyway."

"I didn't know you had magical death ray capabilities."

"I didn't know I could teleport just be sneezing." She shrugged and settled back on the pillows again. "Giles thinks the virus is re-wiring my hard drive."

"So it's making your magic unpredictable?"

"With a capital P, or actually U, but yeah. So I'm going to chain myself to the bed until Giles finds me a cure."

Oz flicked the one closest to him with his finger. "With furry black novelty handcuffs?"

Willow blushed deeply. They were all she'd had in the room. Bought with Kennedy, more as a joke than with any actual plans to use them, from an adult store in LA.

She had a vivid memory of the two of them, giggling inappropriately and earning disapproving looks from the middle-aged man behind the cash register as they browsed racks of cock rings, butt plugs and nipple clamps one boring Wednesday afternoon.

They had still been so new then, still getting know each other. That afternoon had been like only their third proper date. She'd been slightly appalled at the idea when Kennedy dragged her off the street and through the unmarked door to a world of wonder beyond, but her natural curiosity had soon won out.

"There are shackles and stuff in the training room but asking for them would have worried everyone."

"Buffy and Xander are already worried."

"Worried for me, maybe, not worried what I might do to them."

Things were strained enough. Her best friends were barely even her best friends now as it was.

"Letting them know I might be capable of frying them in their slippers would just add unnecessary tension."

"So you don't think they might ask questions about the furry handcuffs?" Oz smiled.

Willow looked at the grapes instead of him. "If you have a better idea."

"Talk to them."

"Is that you're answer for everything these days?"

"It's not a bad one."

That was true, but he didn't understand it wasn't an option. Getting off the topic of handcuffs and reasons for them was probably the best idea.

"So how come you stopped by?"

"I was worried. I thought you were avoiding my calls."

"We have no house phone. I didn't know you'd been calling."

"Yeah, I saw the problem downstairs."

"So was there another reason?"

Oz hesitated. "I can go if you like."

Willow looked at him again. "No, I didn't mean that. Just… sorry, I seem to be really tetchy today."

"Understandable."

"Perhaps… but you being here is good. It's nice you care enough to be here."

_More than anyone else bothers to do_, she added in her head, and then felt bad, but not that bad, because she would be here alone if it wasn't for Oz.

"We could talk about something else?"

She nodded gratefully. "Have you found any more closet Werewolves?"

"One. I haven't approached him yet though."

"Why not?"

"I've been waiting for you. We work well as a team."

She wasn't so sure about that. Not that they didn't work well as a team, but the werewolf-approaching business wasn't really a team endeavour. Oz approached them, Oz spoke to them and Oz helped them plan their 'after care'. She really just went along for the ride, as a representative of the Council of Watchers, because that leant his authority some official weight.

"Maybe you should do this one alone. Just in case I can't leave here for a while."

"I'm not sure I can pull it off alone."

"You could take Buffy. Or Xander. He needs the morale boost."

Oz didn't look happy with either suggestion, although he pretended to think it over.

"You're better with people."

"Better than Xander?"

"Xander's good, but…" Oz took her hand, his pale blue eyes gazing earnestly into hers. "It can wait until you feel up to it."

She smiled at him, the warmth of his attention striking out the nausea she was feeling. Curling her hand around his, she lay back on her pillows again. This was nice. Holding hands was nice. It had been a little while.

She felt way too oogy to feel any kind of _romantic stirrings_, but just having someone, no, not just anyone, Oz, want to sit this close, hold her hand and make her feel special… that was nice.

"Okay. Maybe I'll feel better sooner than I think anyway."

"I hope so."

They chatted companionably for a while, mostly about their shared past, which seemed like kinda dangerous territory to Willow at first, opening cans of worms that could wriggle into places she didn't want them, but after the first few funny memories she relaxed right into it and concentrated on not looking too green or woosy instead.

It was harmless anyway, she kept reminding herself. Oz hadn't made any moves on her, despite Kennedy and Xander both thinking he'd jump at the first chance to, so maybe they were wrong after all. And besides, wasn't she a free agent now? Wasn't that what Kennedy had wanted? Even if she did feel some inkling of desire for Oz, it wouldn't be wrong now she was single. Weird, maybe, but not wrong.

So she kept her hand in his and laughed as often as she could – because didn't they say laughter was the best medicine – and did her best not to wish it was Kennedy here making her feel better instead.

* * *

She had come purposefully up the backstairs, but as soon as Kennedy heard their voices in her bedroom, she realised it had all been an act. She wished it wasn't, but wishing wasn't making her storm into the room like she wanted to.

She lingered in the corridor. Not too close to the bedroom door, but then she didn't need to now with her super-hearing. They seemed to be getting on like a house on fire, although she mused, hopefully not literally because one fire per bedroom a year was more than enough. Willow didn't even sound sick! Every now and again her voice seemed to get a little fainter, but it always came back strong again the next time she gushed about some past little deed they'd gotten up to when Oz had been a Scooby.

That pissed her off. She wasn't even considered one of the inner circle and she was a slayer! Not that she wanted to be a Scooby, she wasn't into that kind of childish little club name thing, but knowing Osborne had been found worthy of entry into their stupid clique and she wasn't… yeah, that made her blood boil a bit. Okay, a lot.

They just… in there… sounded so _close! _Like the years they'd been apart – even the Tara years! – had never happened.

She could go in there and chuck the calabaza at his head just for the sake of it, just to let off some steam, but she couldn't seem to stop listening to them long enough to do it. Even though every word, every giggle, tore at her heart.

Maybe Willow was just being nice though, polite because she felt too sick not to be. It was a slim hope, but it was all Kennedy had and, as pathetic as it might be, she was gonna cling to it. Because maybe if she did walk in there, but less aggressively than she'd planned, and was actually nice herself, maybe Willow would compare and contrast and see what she was missing.

It would be painful to do it, actually it might be almost impossible, but if it got her back into Willow's good books? That was a start, wasn't it? And if Will was just being nice because she wasn't feeling well, she'd surely be able to tell and that might calm some of this churning inside of her.

But what if Willow wasn't just being nice and what if Kennedy could tell? Polite and sociable might take the back burner fast and if Willow really was as sick as Buffy and Xander had made out, having another Werewolf/Slayer fight right in her bedroom might make her worse… it sure as hell wouldn't make her better!

She was still deliberating when she heard footstep coming from the front stairs. Not wanting to be caught loitering outside Willow's room like a stalker by anyone, she ducked into Xander's bedroom. Leaving the door open, she stood just out of sight from the corridor, and waited for whomever it was to get to where they were going.

As it turned out it was Giles and the destination was Willow's room. She heard his voice loud and clear after he'd knocked quietly.

* * *

"Oh, hello, Oz. I wasn't aware you were coming here today." Giles greeted him as he entered.

He wasn't sure it was a good idea, either. Willow needed proper bed rest and preferably a certain amount of isolation. Proper bed rest meant no preventable excitations and no over-doing it by pretending to feel better than she was.

He didn't want to admit it to Willow, he didn't _want _to admit it to anyone, but he was rather worried about Willow's predicament and the more he researched, the more concerned he became.

He knew there had to be an answer, but he was no closer to finding one than he had been last night and the more time went by… well, the isolation wasn't just for Willow's benefit.

"It was spur of the moment," Oz said, while Willow beamed quietly by. "I'm glad I came though. I didn't realise Willow was sick until I got here."

"Well, we're working on that," he promised.

"Do you have anything yet?" There was more than a hint of desperation in Willow's words despite her cheerful smile.

"A few options," he lied. "I'll let you know as soon as I have something concrete. I just wanted to see how you were feeling?"

"Better. Oz is helping."

"Well, that's good."

He paused and filled his silence by checking her pulse – still good and strong, if anything perhaps a little too strong, but he wasn't going to count that as a bad thing just now – and feeling her brow. It was still a little clammy and her skin was taking on the palest of green tints. Not wanting to worry her, he didn't mention it.

"Perhaps not make the visit too long, though. You should try to sleep as much as you can today."

"But I slept all night!"

"I know, but you're body and mind needs as much rest as possible to combat the affects of the… the runaway magick, as it were. You have the best defence inside of you but you need to give it the opportunity to work."

"Really? So all I have to do is sleep lots and this thing will go away?" Willow asked sceptically.

"Not exactly," Giles hedged, "but it can't hurt."

"I should probably go then." Oz stood up. "I've been here a while already. But I'll come by tomorrow if that's okay."

"But tomorrows Thanksgiving," Willow reminded him, not letting go of his hand.

"That's okay. Ralph and I were just going to split a turkey anyway."

Giles had a vague memory of a conversation overheard that Ralph was Oz's dog. He smiled slightly at the thought of a bond between werewolf and dog, but then realised he didn't like the idea of Oz – who only a few years ago had been such an integral part of their little family – dining with just his dog for company on such an occasion.

Aware that Buffy probably wouldn't thank him for the extra work, he felt compelled to ask anyway.

"Why don't you join us for dinner tomorrow, Oz? Buffy's cooking and I'm sure Willow would love to have you."

"I… ah…" Willow stuttered an answer. "I mean, uh, yeah, but… won't I still be on bed rest?"

"We'll have to see how you feel, but I'm hoping we'll have you cured by then."

He smiled, expecting her to too, but she did not. He was about to ask what was wrong, but it soon became apparent he had made a faux pas of some kind.

"That'd be cool." Oz smiled, looking very grateful for the invite. "As long as it's okay with Willow?"

As he turned to her, Willow's smile blinked on as bright as a light bulb. "Oh, uh, sure. That'd be… uh, neat. As long as I'm up to it. Not that you can't come even if I'm not, but… but, well, hopefully I will be and that'll be…" She gave him another big smile. "You should bring Ralph! Yep. You and Ralph coming for Thanksgiving."

As Oz turned to check that was okay with him, only Giles saw Willow grimace – and not from the sickness, he imagined.

He assured Oz that Ralph would be as welcome as he. "So, you'll come tomorrow. That will be nice," he reiterated, hoping anxiously he hadn't just caused Willow far more excitation that she could handle.

* * *

Kennedy, still just inside Xander's bedroom door, ran a hand through her hair in dismay.

Not only was Willow more than happy to have Oz there with her right now, she also really wanted him to come to Thanksgiving tomorrow. How much did that suck? In fact, how _dare_ she? Thanksgiving was her thing! Okay technically it was Buffy's, but she'd been the first one on board with it! Willow hadn't even wanted to do the big meal thing! And now she was inviting the one person she knew Kennedy couldn't stand to be around.

Okay, technically it had been Giles that had invited him, but Giles didn't know! Giles was pretty cool but he was completely clueless at what went on below Slaydar. At least, he acted it. Sure Willow had once mentioned he'd cottoned on to Buffy and Faith before she had, but that was one instance and that was concerning _his _Slayer. Everyone else could be having naked orgies over the picnic table and he'd be too deep in his books to notice.

So he could be excused for inviting Oz, but Willow couldn't be excused for agreeing to it! Obviously she didn't care one iota for her feelings or else she would have made up some excuse. She had the perfect one already, didn't she?

Yeah, she had mentioned she might feel too poorly to attend herself, but she'd sounded disappointed about it, and more importantly she'd told him he could still come anyway! What was that about?

Not able to stand there and stew about it anymore she left the bedroom. Giles and Oz were just coming out of Willow's – her – room, but she didn't acknowledge them as she headed straight for the back stairs.

Buffy was still in the kitchen, still at the stove. Xander had gone, but Goorzar was sitting where he had been, playing with the oily bits of newspaper he'd left on the table. She felt annoyed about that for a second, but Xander was one of the few people on her side, so she let it go with a sigh, set the calabaza she still carried onto the counter again and went to clear the paper away herself.

"How'd it go?" Buffy hadn't turned around; she must have recognised her sigh.

"It didn't."

"Splainy?"

"Huh?"

Kennedy looked up irritably from scrunching the newspaper into a ball. The oil was getting all over _her _hands now and she could already see it matting Goorzie's paws. That was going to be fun to remove.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I didn't go in."

"Good."

"No, opposite of good!" she snapped. "I hate being a wuss!"

Buffy chuckled and Kennedy shot her a dirty look that was lost on her back. She dropped the paper into the trash and then looked under the sink for the best thing to remove oil from baby demon paws.

"I could hear them being all cosy together and… it made me want to hurl! Figured going in there just to throw up wouldn't really help me."

"You're probably right. Have one of Xander's yams. They're actually pretty good, even if I do say so myself."

Kennedy straightened up and looked at the dish on the counter. The long, slightly orangey veg looked surprisingly appetising – she'd been led to believe that even Buffy's cereal ended up burnt.

"I would, but thanks to Xan, my hands are oily."

Buffy turned around and grabbed a glass of milk from the breakfast counter.

"This one time, Faith and I shared a plate of hot ribs right after slaying a Gwizzarni Demon."

"What's a Gwizzarni Demon?"

"Once it's slayed… pretty much just blue goop and gristly bits. Point being, a little oil and newsprint won't kill you."

She handed over a clean fork and Kennedy took it, slicing off a piece of yam. She stuck it in her mouth and chewed. It didn't taste like she was expecting, sweeter maybe; not bad.

"Good times, huh?" she mocked with her mouthful.

Buffy sighed with a smile on her face. "We had a few… well, one or two anyway. Wasn't all knife fights and poisonings."

Kennedy finished the yam and set the fork in the dish. "Any idea what gets oil out of hair?"

"How did you get in it your hair?"

"Not mine, Goorzie's." Kennedy pointed at her blacker than usual paws.

They called them paws because she wasn't technically anything like a human, but really the four fingers and opposable thumb resembled hands more. Still, paws made everyone except her and Andrew more comfortable so that was what they were. Big, hairy, hand-shaped paws. Right now, absolutely coated in thick, greasy engine oil.

"Why did Xander let her play in it?"

"He left in kind of a hurry," Buffy said, turning back to the stove again. "We had a little confab about you going up to see Will."

"Not a good one I take it."

She went back to the table with a bunch of kitchen roll and caught Goorzar's wrists on the third attempt. There were already black hand prints all over the table top, but that wasn't her problem.

"Oh, it was good, not nice, but good, lots of big, emphatic words and stuff."

"Sorry."

"It's nothing to worry about," Buffy promised.

She seemed to be dithering with stuff around the stove rather than doing anything in particular. Kennedy waited to see if she added anything, when she didn't she decided to try and take her mind off of it instead.

"So, Giles asked Oz to Thanksgiving."

"What?" Buffy turned to her again abruptly. "Since when? That's not…?"

She didn't sound pissed off, just surprised, which kind of pissed Kennedy off, but she tried not to let on.

"Upstairs. I was… eavesdropping." She smiled a little. "He said him and his mutt were sharing a turkey and I guess Giles was a little grossed out at the idea of them ripping apart a live turkey between them, so he invited him just to save the bird."

Buffy huffed out a little laugh. "Well, that is a gross image, so thanks for that, but maybe it was more because Giles likes Oz and didn't want to see him eat alone on Thanksgiving?"

Kennedy frowned and started wiping Goorzar's paws with the tissue. "I thought he liked me too."

"He does."

Buffy noticed the calabaza back on the counter. "Hey, I have a spare again! I can practice now. Ya know, I'd never have found these in Boudenver, but Xan and I went into Cleveland last night. It's amazing what you can find at Wal-Mart. I can't believe Sunnydale never had one. So now you just have to talk me through it."

Kennedy frowned. "What if it all goes wrong?"

"That's why they call it a spare."

"Okay." Kennedy lifted Goorzar from the seat and sat her on the table so she could take the chair and still wipe at her paws. "Cut it into, what… seven pieces now?"

She watched as Buffy did so.

"Do I deseed it?"

"Yeah and cut off the rind. Ya know, the thing that really bothers me isn't that he came to see her."

"Then what is it?" Buffy asked as she carefully went about preparing the calabaza.

"Well, obviously, it's that she's _so_ happy to see him!"

Buffy got a mixing bowl from one of the bottom cupboards and started pouring the spices specified on Kennedy's recipe card into it. She sounded distracted but genuine as she said, "Was she? Sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's not even hers! It's mine. If I hadn't made it so easy to walk away, he wouldn't have been so easy to walk to."

"She didn't walk to him. He came by surprise and she's kind of a captive audience up there."

"That's what I hoped, but she sounded pretty happy."

She carried a mildly squealing demon over to the sink and squirted liquid detergent all over her paws. Luckily Goorzar liked the sink so didn't put up much of a fight once she could sit in it. Just as well, because already she was getting hard for even Kennedy to keep hold of when she wasn't happy.

She was double the size she had been when they'd found her, which wasn't saying a whole lot considering how small she had been then, but her strength had doubled too. To say she was a handful now was underestimating it. Right now, though, she sat happily in the sink and tried to play with the bubbles Kennedy was scrubbing into her paws.

"Maybe it was the fever talking," Buffy suggested.

"She didn't sound all that feverish."

"Then maybe you just need to talk to her."

Kennedy frowned at her tone. "If I'm starting to bore you with this…"

Buffy looked up, guiltily. "You're not, I promise. But Willow's in trouble, of the serious health kind, making this not a time for me and Xander to be at odds. And your deal with Oz is kind of putting pressure on us from all sides."

Kennedy looked down at Goorzie and her soap bubbles. Half feeling guilty and half feeling that familiar jealous, pissed off feeling.

"I'm not trying to rag on you," Buffy promised. "I totally get where you are coming from. But Willow's sick and we all need to just put everything else aside until she's better, okay?"

Kennedy made a barely audible dissatisfied sound as she looked away, knowing Buffy was right. Willow was all that mattered. Even if they never resolved their differences, she still couldn't stand the idea of anything bad happening to her. So Buffy had a point, she should be as mellow as she could be about the whole sitch, at least until Willow was out of the woods… after that… well, after that, Osborne was more than fair game again. She could wait. She hoped.

Avoiding Buffy's earnest gaze meant she was looking out of the window, and so she saw Faith walked towards the back door. With slightly teenage glee she wondered if Buffy could keep to the 'Willow's health is the only thing that matters' mantra once Faith was in the room with them. If she could, fair enough. If she couldn't, Kennedy would feel at least a little vindicated.

Buffy was putting the calabaza chunks into a saucepan to rinse them.

Kennedy, pretending she hadn't seen Faith about to enter, said casually, "You need to coat them in the spices and then roast them straight away for twenty minutes. You can't leave them though, cause they might burn."

"Okay."

Buffy had to squeeze past Goorzar to fill the pan with water. The demon kept batting at the pot and Kennedy had her work cut out stopping her from dunking her hands in it as it was filled.

Faith entered as the three of them were having a mini-battle with the saucepan.

"Looks like fun. Can I join?"

Kennedy noted Buffy's head shooting up, but she kept her own focused on the game.

"I, ah… not so much fun actually. You can take my place if you like."

Buffy pointed at the saucepan just as Kennedy got Goorzar to let go of it. The pan pinged upwards and shot cold water and calabaza all over the front of Buffy.

Buffy gasped and went on tiptoes and was the only one in the kitchen who didn't burst into laughter – even Goorzar started hiccupping loudly.

Buffy remained on tiptoes, too shocked by the cold water all over her face and chest to even complain at first. Kennedy decided to get while the going was good and scooped Goorzar out of the sink.

"I'm going to ask Xander what gets oil out of demon hair." With that she bolted past Faith and out the back door, Goorzar squealing in her arms.

Buffy finally let her heels touch the kitchen floor again. "That was bracing."

"Not really the time of year for water fights," Faith agreed, grinning.

Buffy started picking the squash from the floor. "Could you get me…?"

"A towel?"

"Just some kitchen roll will do." Buffy straightened up, smiling herself, as she ran the faucet into the pan, washing off the calabaza.

She tried not to focus too closely on Faith as she moved around the kitchen. Her hair was kinda glittery under the kitchen lights – _pretty_ ­­– and it took Buffy a moment to realise it was just raindrops.

"I thought you were working inside today?"

"I am, why?"

"You're wet."

"Not as wet as you." Faith smirked as she handed her the tissue. She ran a hand over her damp hair. "I had to go outside to get to here."

"Oh, right." Buffy wiped her face. "Of course."

"Xander hasn't dug the service tunnels yet."

Faith was still standing close, leaning against the sink as she peered into the saucepan. It was distracting.

"Well he's got a lot to do. I'm sure he'll get around to it. Wait, he's digging tunnels?"

Faith laughed softly. "No, but we'll probably wish he had once it starts snowing."

"It's going to snow." Buffy looked excitedly out of the window.

She'd only experienced snow twice in her life. Once when her Mom and Dad had taken her ski-ing and again in Sunnydale that Christmas day she'd gotten back together with Angel. They'd both been pleasant experiences and maybe some snow now was what they needed to cheer everyone up.

"Probably not today," Faith said, poking a slice of calabaza. "Doubt we'll have to wait much longer for it though."

Buffy looked from the window to Faith. She was still only a foot away.

"I should probably get this in the oven."

"Don't let me slow you down." Faith gestured towards it. "You do know Thanksgiving is tomorrow, though, right?"

"Yep. This is just a practice run."

Buffy dropped her damp chunks of squash into her bowl of mixed spices and tumbled them around in there for a while. Faith was still leaning against the sink, watching her.

"Did you come in here for a cooking lesson or did you want to talk?"

"What? Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to bother you." Faith pushed away from the sink uncomfortably.

"Because if it was to talk I'll be done with this in just a sec," Buffy went on over the top of her, trying to make up for the abruptness of her question. It had been nerves, but Faith had obviously taken it negatively.

Faith seemed to hesitate then. "I was actually just passing through. Xan said Willow's sick. I was gonna go say Hey in my lunch break."

"Oh. Okay"

Buffy couldn't really argue with that, but it would have been nice if Faith had wanted to spend some of her lunch break with her for once.

With that in mind, as she bent down to put the baking pan of calabaza into the oven, she added. "Just tell me what time you wanna tell me about you're session yesterday and I'll make sure I'm free."

Faith stopped halfway across the kitchen. "How d'you…?"

Buffy straightened up, but didn't look at her. "Xander let it slip after you'd gone last night. I was gonna come after you but I wasn't sure which direction you were heading in."

"You've known where I've been all morning."

"I've been busy."

"Cooking?" Faith asked, unimpressed.

"Worrying about Willow!"

"Well, now I'm worrying about Willow."

"So when are you going to…" She began impatiently as she turned around. Faith was already going up the stairs. "For heaven sake!" She slammed the oven door shut.

_Tbc..._


	9. Act 2:4

"Yes! That's more like it." Giles had seen Oz off and was back in his study. "I think if we use Salamander Root… no, I'm sorry, Salablade Root, we may be on the right track."

There were three books open on his desk and another on the floor to the side of it. He was cross-referencing between the four, checking for ingredient availability with difficulty at one of the online Wicca stores Willow had bookmarked and was holding a telephone consultation with Miss Harkness of the coven in Devon.

"So the Salablade, the other three I've written down and, what did you say? Nagasaki Discus? Ah, Nagyszemet Dizno… Um, I have no idea, I'm afraid. Then why can't they just call them Hungarian pig's eyes?"

He scrolled down the web page looking for them as he spoke.

"Do they have to be from Hungary, because time _is_ of the essence? The more distressed Willow becomes the faster the corruptive magick may spread through her."

He found the eyes and clicked to put three lots in his virtual basket. It all seemed very expensive. He missed being able to get things at cost prices. He knew Willow was growing many of her own magickal herbs these days. Maybe it would be wise to cough up the money for a couple of Hungarian pigs too.

"No, I'll be performing the spell myself. I agree it's not ideal, but the only other person here who has shown any inherent magickal ability isn't in fact _here _at the moment. No, even if I could get him back today, Craig's far too wet behind the ears to be entrusted with a spell as important as this."

A movement at the window caught his eye. Xander was trudging past looking miserable, coatless despite the rain, with a beer bottle in his hand. Giles sighed. He still had to talk to him about the depressed mood he'd been in for months on end, but there just never seemed to be the time. It would have to be soon though because it was starting to cause tension for everyone

He focused on what Miss Harkness was saying again while still watching Xander through the window.

"Yes, perhaps you're right. Having Craig tutored will probably be for everyone's benefit in the future, but right now I'm afraid I have enough people's futures to worry about."

* * *

Faith expected to find Willow in bed. She wasn't.

Instead, as Faith got to the top of the stairs and made to turn towards her room, she saw the witch shivering outside on the veranda.

She banged on the little window to get her attention. "What the hell're you doing out there in your pajamas? I thought you were meant to be sick?"

"I sneezed!" Willow yelled back, like that explained a damn thing.

Frowning, Faith pointed her finger to the back of the house. As Willow got it, Faith walked down the hallways to the door to the veranda. She let Willow in, soaking wet and shivering madly, and then ducked into her own bedroom to grab the blanket off her bed.

"Why didn't you at least put a coat on," she griped, wrapping the blanket around Willow's grateful shoulders.

"I didn't plan on going out there!"

When Faith just looked at her like she was crazy, Willow realised no one had properly clued her in.

"It's part of my… condition. When I sneeze I teleport."

"Oh. Right."

Willow nodded as she shuffled along the corridor back to her bedroom. "I ended up on the roof last night."

"Huh. What was that like?"

"Cold and scary. But Buffy was there with me."

They were back at her room now. Her nightdress was soggy, but she didn't feel up to changing right away. Keeping Faith's blanket around her, she crawled under her own covers and pulled them to her chin.

"Buffy's teleporting when she sneezes too?"

She hadn't looked sick to Faith. Annoying as ever, but not sick. She started to tuck Willow in better, then realised what she was doing and dropped the covers to step back and have a word with herself. Willow wasn't a little kid, and even if she had been, Faith didn't tuck little kids into bed! She'd be offering to read her a bedtime story next!

Willow didn't seem to notice she was flustered as she griped. "No, she just grabbed me as I sneezed. I told her not to. But as always, she did what she wanted to."

Faith almost smiled. "Yeah, tell me about it. It's like she's got cotton balls in her ear whenever anyone else has something to say."

"Except Kennedy."

"Yeah, exactly."

They stared at each other, both realising they were being a little unfair, but then shrugged in unison and Faith dropped down into the chair by the bed.

"Thing that gets me, she makes this big deal about wanting to talk, but then doesn't listen. Every time I try, she takes something I say wrong, and then goes off in a shit. I don't even know what I've said half the time. How'm I supposed to deal with that?"

"It doesn't seem to stop you kissing her."

"Yeah, well, gotta do something. I'm hoping if I keep it up she'll realise what she's missing and cut the crap, ya know? Maybe if she finally chills and gives me a little something back to go on, I will too."

"At least she still wants to be your girlfriend."

"She doesn't wanna be my girlfriend. She wants to be my keeper with a side of sex. We had a name for people like that back in the penn."

"Oh, yeah." Willow sat up a little more now the shivering was subsiding, interested. "What was it?"

"Gracie."

Willow's nose scrunched up. "Huh?"

"Gracie. She was this guard who… well, she wanted to screw all the inmates." Faith shrugged like it was self-explanatory. "Anyway, B's like her. Except she won't even have sex with me."

Willow shook her sore head. "Okay, now you've totally lost me."

"Never mind, forget it. So, Ken been to see ya yet."

"No!" Willow said, her tone surly.

"Well maybe if she knew you had the handcuffs ready to go she would." Faith winked.

Willow gave an embarrassed chuckle and buried her head in her covers for a moment. She'd been hoping Faith wouldn't spot them. "They're not for that! They're in case my sneezes get out of control and I start teleporting across Boudenver."

"If you say so." Faith fiddled with one for a moment. "I thought for a minute you and Oz had been up to something naughty."

"No!"

"No need to bite my head off. So you two ain't getting back together?"

"Believe me, I really wish I wanted to. Life would be so much easier if I was still attracted to him, you know, like that."

"Like what? Either you're attracted to him or you're not."

"I still love him. I know I still love him." She lowered her voice. "I think a part of me is even still _in love _with him. He still gives me the warm and fuzzies, but he doesn't," she paused and released a deep breath. "He doesn't give me the… the…"

Faith helped her out. "The hot and tinglies?"

"Yeah," Willow agreed softly.

"But Kennedy does?"

"Kennedy doesn't want to give me anything."

"But you want her too?"

Willow opened her mouth to answer but a sneeze came out instead. Faith found herself staring at an empty bed.

"Well, I'll be," she began and got up to go look for the teleported witch.

* * *

Giles was in the kitchen making a cup of tea now.

Buffy was still fussing with food between the counter and the stove. Xander was dripping rainwater all over the table as he tried to clean the mysterious oil stains off of it. They didn't appear to speaking much to each other, he noticed.

"So, I believe the spell has every chance of working and curing her of this ailment altogether, but you'll both need to be there to help."

"Why?" Xander asked. "You know what me and magick are like."

"Yes, very successful when you concentrate. So no more beer this afternoon, please."

"Sure, whatever. But can we get it over with early? They're having a pre-Thanksgiving thing down at Barnies tonight and I told Alex I'd show."

"Xander, it's for Willow!" Buffy snapped. "Surely you can put your alcohol abuse on hold for…"

"I said I'd be here, didn't I!"

Hurt silence stretched out until Giles cleared his throat.

"The coven has assured me they can get all of the ingredients here by seven 'o' clock. If all goes well, we should be finished within an hour."

There was another minute of silence. Buffy broke it this time.

"Giles, you never gave me a secret family recipe to do for tomorrow."

He frowned, confused for a moment. His thoughts were far too scattered to remember what she was talking about.

As it dawned, and not wanting to disappoint her, he said, "Peas and carrots."

"Peas and carrots?" she asked. "That's it?"

"Add an onion, a little ginger and salted butter and stir it all up in a pan and you'll see what I mean." He picked up his tea cup. "Xander, can I have a word with you in my study, please?"

* * *

"You sure about this, Red?"

"Yes." Willow held her hand to the side of her pillow so Faith could snap a cuff around her wrist. "It's too cold today to keep zapping myself outside."

Faith moved around to the other side of the bed to do the other one. "Okay, but what about if ya need the bathroom?"

Willow hadn't thought about that. "Uh, leave the keys on the side and make sure someone checks on me every hour, please?"

"No problem."

Faith stepped back and grinned down, admiring Willow fastened to the bed with the furry black handcuffs.

"Damn it's been awhile," she joked. "If it wasn't for the Disney nightie and the fact that your face has gone all green I'd be tempted to climb…"

"Finish that sentence and you'll get more than a punch in the eye!"

Faith curbed the urge to spin guiltily to the sound of the voice and instead just looked casually over her shoulder.

"Hey, Kenny. Come to join the party?"

"I came to see if Willow was okay. Obviously she is, so I shouldn't have bothered."

Seeing Kennedy about to turn from the doorway, and catching Willow's stricken face out of the corner of her eye, Faith decided to the do the decent thing.

"Don't be an ass. You know this ain't what it looks like."

Kennedy hesitated in the doorway.

Willow lifted her head and shoulders off the pillow and gave her a quiet, "Hey."

"So if it's not what it looks like, what is it?"

Faith set the tiny keys on the bedside table, gave Willow's arm a pat and shot her a wink before walking towards the door.

"I'll let Willow explain. Gotta get back to work anyway."

She slipped past Kennedy in the doorway and left them to it.

"So?" Kennedy asked.

"Can you come in? It hurts my head leaning up like this."

Kennedy entered slowly. She looked at the edge of the bed, then the chair on the other side and ended up standing two feet away with her hands in her pockets.

"So, you and Oz had a nice visit then?"

Willow sighed. She'd wanted Kennedy to visit, but she wasn't up to an argument. Why had she thought she would get anything else?

"This isn't what it looks like. It has nothing to do with Oz."

"I wouldn't mind, but you're using my handcuffs."

"They're our handcuffs!"

"Yeah, mine and yours, not yours and his!"

"This has nothing to do with whatever you imagine I want to do with Oz!" Willow shouted and then had to lay back and close her eyes.

Kennedy backed off a little. She hadn't come up here to argue, but hearing Faith's comments and then seeing Willow handcuffed to their bed – a bed she hadn't been allowed in for over a month – what was she supposed to think?

"Why are you green?"

"I don't know," Willow said quietly. "Giles pretended like he hadn't noticed and I didn't want to mention it in front of Oz."

She knew she'd said the wrong thing even before Kennedy's hands flew from her pockets to gesticulate wildly.

"No, you wouldn't want to say anything to put Oz off, would you!"

"I was embarrassed!" Willow admitted. "But not because of why you think."

"Why would you be? He'd want you even if you are the colour of a frog!"

Inside her tummy flipped at the mention of frogs, but outwardly she just glared. "And you wouldn't, I take it?"

Kennedy looked away, her mouth a set line. "You have to make a choice, Willow."

"I thought you'd done that for me."

Kennedy didn't answer.

Willow leant up again, really wishing the handcuffs weren't on her right now, because it hurt to shout from this position.

"Maybe if you'd fought for me a little harder I wouldn't have a decision to make!"

Kennedy, chuckling coldly, turned back to her. "I did fight for you, remember? You hated it."

"I didn't mean physically! There are other, better, more creative ways to fight for someone, Kennedy, other than using your fists!"

Kennedy went to shout something back, but her brain got in the way. She shut her mouth again, walked to the bookcase and stared at the books silently while she forced herself to calm down a little.

"Like what?" she said eventually.

"I don't know," Willow's voice was weaker now.

"It sounds like…"

Kennedy ran her hand over the top of the books. What she wanted to say next could be a big mistake. At the very least she'd lose face, at the worst she'd look completely pathetic. In the end, she took a deep breath and let the words rush out of her, because looking pathetic was better than not knowing.

"Do you think we still have a shot? Do you want us to have a shot, I mean? 'Cause I… if it isn't automatically over then… I never meant to… I mean I thought you thought… but I never meant to actually be the one… if you…"

She finally petered out completely. It would have been nice if Willow had interrupted the embarrassing babble, but she hadn't, she didn't even respond now, which was unsettling.

She turned back to the bed, half expecting Willow to either be asleep or gone, teleported somewhere. She wasn't either of those things, although she looked more worn out now than when Kennedy had come in.

She lay back on her pillows, eyes –looking sunken yet too bright in her green face – fixed on Kennedy.

"I don't know," she repeated quietly. "I never wanted things to be over, but it's different now."

"Because of Oz," Kennedy said with a defeated air.

"No, because of us!"

"But we could be okay?"

Willow shrugged awkwardly in the cuffs.

"Don't just shrug, Willow! Tell me if we can save us!"

Willow closed her eyes, feeling her strength seeping away. She needed to sleep, like now.

With her last ounce of effort she said softly, "Show me we have something worth saving, Kennedy, and I promise I'll help you do it."

* * *

"What's the what, G-man?"

Giles let the nickname go because Xander looked so nervous standing in the middle of his study.

"Xander, please, sit down." Xander did so. "I meant in that chair, not mine!" Xander grinned and started to get up. "No, you might as well stay where you are now."

Giles took the less comfortable chair on the other side of his desk. He went to shuffle some papers as a distraction but realised that would look foolish seeing as they were all upside down to him now. He took his glasses off to clean instead.

"Uh oh," Xander said. "What did I do?"

That was as good as cue as any to get straight to the point.

"Your work is exemplary, Xander."

"Thanks." After a brief silence, Xander added, "Can I go now?"

"No. Your work is excellent but I can't help wondering if you are happy doing it."

"Sure I am. Some of it's a little over my head still, but now you're letting me contract out that's no problem, and with Faith helping…"

"She's not simply helping. She works for you."

"No, she works for _you_."

"She works for us," Giles corrected. "I've explained already. Everything to do with building and maintenance is your responsibility. Without you…"

Xander cut him off. "Yeah, but I work for you, so technically…"

Giles cut him off this time. "You work _with_ me."

"You're my boss," Xander said flatly.

"There has to be some a hierarchy within the Council, it's true, but I like to think that here in this camp at least, we're more of a democracy."

"Where's this going, Giles?"

"It's been brought to my attention that you've been feeling under appreciated."

"Willow's been telling tales."

"Actually I overheard your argument last month," Giles admitted.

"Oh, right. Well, don't worry about it. I was just having a bad day." Xander started to get up from the chair again.

"Xander, please sit." Giles waited until he had. "You've been having a lot of bad days since we arrived here."

"So that's what this is really about," Xander groaned. "Nice of you to big me up before hand, Giles, but you needn't have bothered. I'm getting used to this lecture."

"Maybe if you stopped seeing it as a lecture and started seeing it for what it really is, you wouldn't be so defensive."

"And what is it really?" Xander asked, humouring him.

"Your friends caring about you."

Xander started to get up again.

Instead of saying anything to stop him this time, Giles simply said, "Xander, I care about you."

Xander faltered half out of the chair. After a second, he forced out a grin. "That kiss didn't mean anything, you know."

Giles smiled and put his glasses back on. "Thank heavens for that. But I still care about you. I care about what you do every day and I care about what you are going to do with your future."

Xander had sunk back into the chair again, but his answer was sullen. "I'm not sure I have one."

"You do, I assure you of that, but you've dug yourself quite a rut since Sunnydale. I understand why of course, but now it's time to start digging yourself back out of it."

"What do you know about it?"

If Xander's reply had been flippant or cold Giles would have chucked a book at his head, but he just sounded miserable and little desperate.

Giles took a deep breath, preparing himself. "I lost the only woman I ever truly loved to my Slayer's ex-boyfriend. I know he wasn't Angel when he murdered her, but believe me, that didn't make it any easier when she decided to continue relations with him. Seeing him all the time…" he trailed off but he was sure his face told the rest of the story.

He was usually very careful not to talk about Jenny around Buffy, Willow and Xander, but this situation called for dire measures.

"I know it's not the same thing you're going through…"

"No, it's worse."

Giles nodded. "In some ways. My point is, I drank for a good many weeks after Jenny's death. Oh, none of you knew it, I was very careful not to get caught, but I sank fairly deep into a depression I had never experienced before. The only thing that eventually pulled me out of it was realising that Buffy, that all of you, needed me to be there. Really there, not just in body, but in every way."

Xander sat back and the leather creaked. "Nobody needs me like Buffy needed you."

Giles hesitated, not because he didn't have an answer, but because he wasn't quite ready to give it to Xander yet. Xander needed to make a few steps in the right direction first.

Eventually, he said, "Well, we, your friends, need you, Xander. So let's start getting you out of that rut. What do you say?"

He said, "How?"

"Perhaps going to speak to someone," Giles began.

"No way!" Xander said firmly. "Sure I'm a little out of sorts these days, but I don't need a shrink!"

Giles didn't want to add anything that might make him run, so he settled for watching him patiently. Xander didn't crack like he'd hoped, though, and after another minute or two the lad got up and walked out.

Giles watched him go with a sigh. Now what did he try?

* * *

Buffy sighed as Faith came down the back stairs. She had finally got some peace and quiet and now this, again. Having said that, as soon as Faith only gave her a little wave and kept going for the back door, she got annoyed.

"Hello!"

"Hey." Faith opened the back door, letting the rain in.

"I need your help."

"What with?"

"The pumpkin pie."

Faith closed the door again but stayed beside it. "I wrote down the recipe like you asked."

"I can't read your writing," Buffy lied.

Faith raised her eyebrows but gave in and went to sit at the kitchen table.

"Fine, chuck me the piece of paper and I'll read it out to you. You can write it down in your own perfect handwriting."

Buffy bristled but did her best to stay calm. Reminding herself she was thankful Faith was here, even if she was turning out to be a pain in the ass to have around. It was strange how she didn't remember that from the first time.

"Can't you just stay in here and help me?"

"I have a job, B! Actually, right now I pretty much have four of them if you count slaying, studying and keeping Debbie D happy so she stays off my back and doesn't start snooping around this place. I don't have the time to mess around in here cooking like you do!"

The outburst surprised her. Faith had been pretty mild mannered recently. Detached, gently sarcastic and a little too frosty for Buffy's liking, but certainly non-combative. Obviously she'd pushed a button. Good. Maybe if she pushed a few more Faith would actually stay and talk to her, or shout at her, either would be better than nothing.

"I have a job too!"

"No, B, you don't. You slay, sometimes, when you feel like it, but there's nothing you _have_ to get up in the morning to do, there's no one standing over you making sure you do it right, either."

"Xander doesn't stand over you," she scoffed.

"My parole officer does that for him!" Faith shouted. Her chair scraped back with a sharp noise as she stood up. "And when she's not around, she's got people reporting back to her. My asshole teacher up at the Adult Learning Centre, my therapist, Giles! You know I have to have an hour long meeting _every morning_ after I take Alison out on patrol?"

Buffy shook her head.

"Well, I do. Giles tries to fool me into thinking they're all about Ali's progress. Making sure she's getting on alright out there. But it's bull. I don't see him dragging Reece into his study every morning asking how Rona's getting on. He doesn't ask the other slayers how their night went, he leaves that to Kennedy, but he makes me sit and talk about it _every damn morning._ Where did I take her, what did we meet there, did we slay it, how long were we out, did I take her anywhere afterwards, did I use pre-approved training methods – what the hell are the pre-approved training methods? You see a vamp, stake it, ya see a demon, cut its head off – how friggin' pre-approved does that have to be?"

"He's trying to help you, Faith!"

"I know that! Why ya think you haven't heard me bitching about this before? Wouldn't be now, but you don't seem to get how fucked up each of my days is right now without having a freaking picture painted for ya."

"I'm not asking you to spend a whole afternoon taking bubble baths and painting my toenails! I just want my girlfriend to want to speak to me in her lunch break!"

"And I just want my girlfriend to sleep with me in my lunch break!"

Buffy turned away, shaking her head and laughing. "Oh, would you change the record for once?"

"Would you? All you wanna do is talk, talk, talk. Aren't you sick of hearing yourself ask?"

"What I'm sick of is you never actually answering."

"I answer you every time."

Buffy slammed the pie plate on the counter. "Yeah, with a 'maybe later' or a 'not right now'. You never actually do the talking thing though. This isn't a relationship if we never talk about anything more than the weather. It's not even the beginning of one; it's just… something awkward."

"You know what would make it more of a relationship?"

"I already told you I don't want a relationship that's just sex. So if that's all you want now, or you've decided that's all you have the _time_ to give me, then we have a real problem."

"You know that's not all I want."

"Do I? It's all you act like you want?"

Faith, on the other side of the counter, slammed her hands down as hard as Buffy had slammed the pie dish down.

"What I want is for you to meet me halfway! Give me something to go on here, B. I don't want another person I feel I have to report to all the damn time. I want you to be someone I can have a laugh with, and screw about with and, yeah, screw occasionally! Preferably in inappropriate places and at in appropriate times. Like this counter… on my lunch break."

She didn't smile as she said it but she held Buffy's eyes like they were locked-on missiles. Buffy felt her skin heating up under her clothes. It was probably just because the oven had been on all morning, she told herself as she inwardly, and perhaps a little outwardly, gulped at Faith's intensity.

"So maybe if you give me a little of that," Faith continued. "A little taster of how we're actually gonna be when we get into this relationship for real. Maybe I'll find it a little easier to relax around you and do that talking thing you're so in to."

Buffy groaned, rubbing her forehead tiredly. "I can't believe we're in a 'no talking, no sex' stalemate."

Faith shrugged. "Me neither, who the hell doesn't wanna have hot sex?"

Buffy shook her head. "Who doesn't want to talk about themselves to a captive audience of me?"

Faith looked down at the counter, fingers tapping at it, her voice uncomfortable. "I've never been good at, ya know, letting people in and stuff. Even when I was a kid. After a while I guess people stopped bothering and so I never properly learned."

"Why?"

"Well, ya get told to stay the fuck outta someone's business enough times…"

Buffy chuckled softly, making Faith look up at her in surprise.

"I meant why weren't you good at it? I used to tell my friends everything when I was a kid."

"You still do," Faith said dryly. "But maybe back then you had a bunch of stuff you wanted to talk about. I didn't. Still don't, really, not yet anyway. So if you wanna talk about baseball, or food, or –" she grinned again. "-sex, that I can do, but anything heavier, you either gotta wait patiently for the therapy to kick in, or ya gotta earn it."

Buffy raised a sceptical eyebrow. "By sleeping with you?"

Faith shrugged one shoulder. "I'll settle for less than that the first time." She spotted the time on the clock. "My lunch break is past over. You want me to write that recipe down for you again?"

"No, that's okay, I can read it."

"Right, I'll see you later." Faith boosted herself up on the counter and leaned over it.

Maybe it was because they were already standing just a short space apart, maybe it was because they'd been looking into each others eyes, or maybe it was because Faith did it pretty much every time she left the room now, but Buffy was ready for the kiss this time when it landed on her lips.

She even had the chance to kiss back. It made a difference; the kiss lasted, no drive-by smacker this time, and when Faith did break the kiss, it was unhurriedly and with a smile on her lips.

Dropping back to her feet, Faith turned away and left the kitchen without another word.

Buffy watched her go with a confused sigh.

_Tbc..._


	10. Act 2:5

Willow's nose twitched a few times in her sleep, yummy smells invading her otherwise horrible dreams.

With a deep sniff, she woke up but just lay there for a while with her eyes closed. She felt better, a little anyway. Sleeping must have helped. She still felt weak though and the bright bedroom light set her head spinning when she opened her eyes.

"Ohhh." She put a hand over them to shut some of it out.

"Sorry, do you want me to turn it off, I wasn't thinking."

She sighed silently at Buffy's voice, but slowly shook her head. "No, just give me a sec to get used to it."

Buffy took it upon herself to make the situation better. Switching on the bedside light, which was way comfier for her eyes, she quickly turned off the brighter overhead one.

"I wasn't thinking," she said again. "I was just trying not to spill any of this."

"Any of what?" Willow gradually removed her hand so that she could see what Buffy was talking about.

Taking that as her cue, Buffy placed the tray over Willow's lap. "I brought you some supper. Giles said you should have food in your tummy before the spell and I need a taster."

She smiled but as Willow's mouth twisted, and noticing the green complexion her friend had, she snatched the tray back up.

"Sorry! You probably didn't want that plonked right in front of you if you feel sick, right?"

Willow hadn't, it was true, but she shook her head. "It's okay. It smells good, but my stomach's been a little anti-food all day."

"Do you want me to take it away?"

"No, no, just put it where I can't see it for a minute if that's okay."

Buffy looked around and then left the room. She was back almost immediately.

"I've put it in the hall. Providing Xander doesn't walk by it should be safe there." Buffy gave her a big smile.

"Not much chance of him coming near here," Willow said, feeling sullen again.

"He'll be here soon. So how are you feeling?"

Buffy walked around the bed to sit on the chair. She wasn't going to give Willow a chance to passive-aggressively kick her out again.

"I think I'm a little better. Why will he be here soon?" Willow tried to pull herself up on her pillows but the way her hands were restrained made that kind of hard.

Seeing the difficulty, Buffy helped her. "Hey, handcuffs! Good idea. Won't you just teleport right out of them though?"

Willow accepted her help because she felt less silly with her hands chained to the side of her instead of above her head. She was pleased she didn't have to explain herself again too. That was getting more embarrassing every time she did it. Although maybe not so embarrassing as the first time she explained it to Oz now she came to think about it.

"I don't know. I hope not. I haven't sneezed since they've been on."

"There's some pepper on the tray." Buffy grinned. "Want me to get it, see if they work?"

"No thanks. I'm comfy. Why did you say Xander was coming up?"

"To do the spell." Buffy sat back down again.

"What spell?"

"Didn't Giles tell you? He's pretty sure he's found out how to make you better. The ingredients just arrived by… get this, a carrier pigeon! I think it might be a magickal pigeon, though, seeing as how fast it got here. Kennedy's just taken it to the boy's dorm to spend the night."

"Why the boy's room?" Willow tried to process one bit of information at a time.

"Well, we thought about the woodshed first but there was talk about the Pixies eating it, and Xander said he didn't want it crapping all over the stables when he's just got them cleaned up."

Willow nodded. "I s'pose it doesn't matter if it craps all over the boy's room then."

Buffy gave a wicked grin. "Not like you'd be able to tell anyway. So, Giles is just sorting out the ingredients and then he and Xander will be up. Apparently it needs all four of us that got hit by the original spell to do it."

"So, it'll make me better?"

"That's the plan. Are you ready to try some of that food now? I've been testing out all the recipes ready for tomorrow and I could really use a second opinion."

Willow thought about it. She was still feeling sick and she wasn't really in the mood for helping Buffy out but the food did smell good and it didn't look like Buffy was going to leave even if she refused.

"Okay, maybe just a mouthful or two."

That seemed to make Buffy happy and she jumped up to fetch the tray. Even Buffy moving so fast made Willow's head spin. She closed her eyes while she waited for her to return. Boy, how much did she hope Giles' spell worked? It had only been a day and she was already really hating feeling like this.

Buffy came back and gently placed the tray over her lap. There were four small plates, a glass of water and another of cola and the salt and pepper shakers. Buffy pointed to the plates in turn as she gave a brief description.

"Here we have honeyed yams. Here we have roasted calabaza. And here we have pumpkin pie. I know what you're thinking: our intestines are going to hate us the day after tomorrow, but hey, we only live once, right? Well, three times in my case but you get my drift."

Willow's nose startled to tingle at the new, rich aromas. She scrunched it, trying her best to ignore the beginnings of a sneeze in the hope that it would go away.

Buffy continued oblivious. "And this last one is probably the only really healthy thing we'll have on the menu. Peas and carrots – Giles specialty, apparently. It's actually really good with a little pepper."

She picked up the little pot. Willow shook her head, trying to clench her nostrils closed as Buffy turned it upside down and gave it a shake over the vegetables.

"Nooo-chooooo!"

The bed shook with the force of her sneeze and as her eyes closed automatically something weird happened. Her brain stretched out! Or her consciousness. Or something. That was the only way she could describe it. What happened behind her eyelids wasn't an illusion, it was real.

She was definitely standing about six feet to the side of a _dinosaur_!

It was gigantic; towering way above her and it had to be at least fifty feet long! She panicked, because who wouldn't, but it didn't even notice the small human standing there in awe as it munched lazily on the uppermost leaves of a tree. The air around it stank of… of rabbit poop? Really, really strong rabbit poop.

She felt a hand on her arm and tried to turn around in alarm. Instead her eyes popped open and she saw Buffy hovering over her with major concern-face, the tray held easily in one hand out of the way.

She was shaking from head to toe and covered in fresh sweat. "What just happened?"

"You sneezed."

"I mean after that?"

"You just started shaking and your eyes wouldn't open. You had me really worried there for a moment."

"You were worried? You weren't the one…! So, I didn't disappear?"

Buffy shook her head. "No. So I guess the handcuffs work."

"Yeah," Willow said weakly.

"Are you okay?" Buffy pulled a face like she knew that was a stupid question but didn't know what else to ask.

"I saw a dinosaur."

"Huh?" Buffy put the tray back over her, but lower down on the bed.

Willow didn't even want to look at it right now, but she didn't have the energy to ask for it to be taken away either.

"I think my… my mind teleported without me."

"Like an out of body experience?"

"Maybe."

"So, what?" Buffy smiled. "It teleported you to Jurassic Park?"

"No. I think it teleported me back sixty-five million years in time."

"Oh." Buffy sat back down hard in her chair. "Is that possible?"

"I don't think so, but I-I know what I saw and what I saw was definitely an Astrodon."

Buffy's nose wrinkled in confusion. "And that's a dinosaur?"

"Uh huh. I did a paper on them for fifth grade."

"Right." Buffy nodded slowly. "Well, at least you're body didn't go with you." She studied Willow's face for a moment. "You do look greener now though."

Willow closed her eyes again and muttered, "Great."

Buffy seemed to realise she'd upset her even more and placed a gentle hand on her waist. "Look, Giles and Xander will be up any minute and then we can put an end to this once and for all."

Willow nodded, her head hurt again.

"Do you want to try something to eat? I get you probably don't feel like it now, but Giles did say you should have something inside you before we start the spell."

If it was what it took to get the cure underway, Willow would have eaten the dinosaur she'd just met, all twenty tons of it, despite the strong marsh gas smell.

"Okay, but just one dish and, please, get rid of the pepper."

Buffy took the tray away from a moment and when she brought it back only the pumpkin pie was left on it.

"Okay, this was Faith's recipe, so be warned, but I've had a couple of mouthfuls and it isn't half bad."

She set the tray where Willow could reach it and then held up a fork for her. They both realised the problem at the same time.

"I'm kinda…" Willow pulled a little on the handcuffs.

"Do you want me to take them off?"

"After what I just went through? No!"

"Okay." Buffy pulled the chair closer to the bed as she dug the fork into the pie. "I'll feed you then."

"No! Buffy, this experience is humiliating enough! I don't want you spoon-feeding me too."

"I won't be, I'll be fork-feeding you."

Despite Buffy's playful grin Willow didn't even crack a smile. "No thank you."

"Okay." Buffy set the fork back on the plate and leant over the bed to reach the keys on the bedside cabinet. "I'm taking them off but I'll hold on to you the entire time you're eating, okay? If you sneeze yourself to any more dinosaurs, you won't have to go alone."

It wasn't like she had a lot of choice. She had to eat apparently and that left literally two options. Be fed like a baby or have Buffy hanging off her like they were best friends. _They were best friends! _It had just been kinda hard to remember that the last few weeks. Having to rely on Buffy's help was irritating. It was like she was giving in even though she wasn't ready to. Buffy had _won_ by default because not only did she have to rely on her now, she would have to be grateful afterwards, because only a small, petty-minded person wouldn't be. And Willow didn't want to be a small, petty-minded person.

So she muttered, "Okay," and after a brief pause, "thanks."

Buffy raised an eyebrow at her tone and looked a little hurt and maybe that was enough for Willow to win a very tiny victory.

Once the handcuffs were off she rubbed her hands and forearms to get some life back into them. Buffy handed her the fork and then gripped a bunch of her nightie in a tight fist. If she teleported now either Buffy would be along for ride or she'd be going naked.

She hesitated over the first mouthful, but once she'd started chewing she was glad she had. The pumpkin pie wasn't the best she'd ever had, Buffy's mom had made a better one for sure, but to her starved stomach it tasted great.

Buffy waited until she was on her fourth forkful before asking, "So, what's it like?"

Willow nodded, still chewing. "It's a little dry, but good otherwise."

"Dry?" Buffy looked worried. "It's my first attempt at pastry. I have a can of whipped cream downstairs. I should have put some on! Do you want me to go get it?"

Willow shook her head. "Whipped cream might be more than my tummy can handle tonight."

"Well, I'll remember for the one I bake tomorrow. It's okay, though? Other than that?"

"Yeah, but I'm surprised Faith even knew how to bake a pumpkin pie."

Buffy chuckled. "It was her Watcher's recipe so it probably came straight out of a book."

Willow had another couple of mouthfuls before saying, "I've never heard Faith talk about her Watcher. She must be finally opening up to you."

"Not really. She told us all about the recipe the other day in the kitchen. Other than that she cooked a pie for Thanksgiving all I know about her is her name, Alicia."

"That's a pretty name."

Buffy smiled. "That's what I said."

Willow frowned as she popped the last mouthful of pie in.

"You're annoyed now because we both find the same name pretty!" Buffy asked in exasperation.

"No!" Although she might have been if she'd thought to be. "I was just thinking that that's not a lot to know about Faith's Watcher. I know you're not speaking much at the moment, but didn't you ever ask about her back in Sunnydale?"

"No." Buffy hung her head, and for a second Willow's nightshirt was pulled tight against her body as Buffy clenched her fist harder. "I never liked to ask. I know how much I hate talking about Merrick; I always just assumed Faith felt the same."

"Who's Merrick?"

"See?" Buffy gave her a wry smile. "He was my first Watcher."

"I never knew you had…"

Buffy cut her off. "Exactly. And I don't want to talk about him now. But maybe Faith feels differently and I just never realised. We sorta started doing the talking thing this afternoon, after she came to see you, so we'll see I guess."

"Really?"

That was a surprise. Faith had seemed as dead against talking to Buffy as ever earlier. It was a good if she'd changed her mind, but she couldn't help thinking Buffy would screw it up. Not that she didn't think she had it in her, but Buffy had never been good at the big heart to hearts with her partners either. When the two Slayers finally got down to serious talking there were going to be a lot of long, awkward pauses.

Willow put her fork down on the plate. "That was nice. My tummy thanks you."

Buffy nodded and with her free hand pulled a pen and a sheaf of note cards from her pocket. As Willow looked at them with interest, she said,

"The secret recipes for tomorrow." She found a blank card. "Feel up to giving me your latte recipe now?"

"Latkes," Willow corrected, unable to stop her affectionate, ever patient, Buffy-teacher smile.

She settled back against her pillows, thinking she should get Buffy to handcuff her again but enjoying her freedom too much, as she recited the recipe her mom had drummed into her from the age of seven.

Buffy wrote it all down, using Willow's stomach to lean on, enjoying the current break in hostilities between them.

By the time they had finished, Giles and Xander were coming through the bedroom door.

* * *

Faith let herself into the training barn, dripping rain water. Work was finally done for the day but she wasn't ready to go back to the house. Earlier, Buffy had… not pissed her off exactly, or more like she had at the time, but Faith had been over that before she'd walked out of the kitchen, but she'd definitely made her start contemplating things. She _hated _contemplating things!

Act first and do your best not to think about it later was her motto. It wasn't a great motto and it had never really worked out well for her, but that didn't matter usually, because she didn't _contemplate_ on it.

In prison she'd been forced into pretty much nothing else – just one of a thousand reasons she had hated her time inside – both because she was made to think about her actions by the prison shrinks and because with all those long stretches alone there hadn't been a lot else to do.

During that time her past had been something she'd mostly come to terms with. She'd probably never get over all of it. She still had nightmares, still had feelings of inadequacy and a tendency towards over-enthusiastic negative reactions to things. And there were the times she had to battle a deep inner-loathing of herself thanks to the mistakes she'd made and the way she had handled their aftermath. Mostly though, she was happy to keep all that buried and just concentrate on getting through each day with a better attitude than she'd had before.

See, she could learn and grow – she just didn't like doing it in public.

But Buffy seemed determined to drag it all out of her and not just the stuff she'd gone to prison for – which she could kind of understand Buffy wanting to talk about, even though it sucked – but other stuff too. Stuff from before they'd met. Stuff Faith had played so close to her chest for so long she could almost convince herself now it had just been one long bad dream.

It wasn't fair either; whenever in the past Faith had tried to pull personal information from the blonde, B had shut her down fast. Now, because she was doing the same – and with way better reason –, Buffy was calling her a bad girlfriend!

She'd known all along she would suck at the relationship thing. Just not this bad or this soon.

Faith had hoped to have the training barn to herself for a few hours before it was time to grab a bite to eat and head out on patrol, but even that wasn't going her way. Kennedy was already in there, pounding on one of the punching bags like it had called her a nasty name.

She nearly turned and headed back out into the rain. Spending some time alone in her bedroom would be better than spending it in here with Kennedy. That would be like giving ground, though, so naturally, she did the opposite. The younger slayer was using the bag at the far end of the line. Faith took the one at the other end without acknowledging her presence.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kennedy look over and give an irritable sigh before going back to her workout.

Faith started to warm up, first by stretching and then giving the bag a few soft jabs – right, left, right, left.

"I don't want to talk!" Kennedy grunted out between fast puffs of air as she punched wildly.

Faith ignored her, concentrating on speeding up the rhythm she'd set.

"I said I don't want to…!"

"Do I look like I'm freakin' talking to you?" She shouted, taking her own frustration out on the younger slayer. "No? Then shut the hell up!"

Kennedy stopped punching, either shocked or indignant at the sharp response. The bag swung back hard towards her, hitting her in the chest and knocking her back a step.

Faith laughed easily without turning from what she was doing. "Gee, even a bag of sawdust can take ya, huh?"

Huffing angrily, Kennedy turned her back a little and pushed the bag away before punching it again.

For a while there was nothing but the sound of their fists meeting packed canvas and Faith's feet as she danced around a little, mixing up her attacks and adding the occasional high kick to the sides of the bag.

After a bit she realised she was the only one still moving and glanced over her shoulder to see Kennedy hugging her bag and just watching.

"You got a problem?"

Kennedy didn't answer so she went back ignoring her. She didn't mind doing this with an audience. Actually, she didn't mind doing most things with an audience. Except talking. Talking she'd rather do alone. Not that she talked to herself… She shook her head. This thing with Buffy was driving her nuts. She should just talk to her and get it over with. At least then she could get some action and wouldn't feel so wired and ready for a fight all the time.

She knew she wasn't telling herself anything her new therapist hadn't already – except for the sex stuff, obviously, they didn't know each other well enough for that yet. That made her laugh, she'd _had_ sex with people she'd known for less time than her shrink but she couldn't talk to her shrink about sex?

"How do you show someone you deserve a second chance?"

"Huh?" Faith had pretty much forgotten Kennedy was there. "Thought you didn't want to talk?"

"Forget it." Kennedy went back to punching the bag but with less enthusiasm than before.

"You could go to prison. Worked for me."

"I didn't do anything to go to prison for."

Faith smirked. "Go anyway, seriously, you'll be doin' us all a favour."

"Get screwed!"

Faith laughed again. "Believe me, I'm trying. So, you want Willow to give you another chance?"

"No, I want her to give us another chance."

"There a difference there?"

"Yeah." Kennedy left the bag swinging and went to the water cooler in the corner. "Asking her to give me another chance is like admitting I did something wrong…"

"And you don't think you did?"

"Do you think I did?" Kennedy asked over the bubbling of the cooler.

Faith stopped, surprised by the direct question. She thought about it. She didn't know all the ins and outs of why they'd broken up, but everyone who lived at the camp knew about the big finale, the fight Kennedy had had with Oz.

"I guess I can see why you were jealous of Oz. But it was still a hella stupid move though."

"Are you telling me you wouldn't have done the same thing?" Kennedy asked, angrily. "If Buffy was getting cosy with someone who wasn't even human instead of you?"

Faith smirked. "I picked a few fights with Angel… but I was smart enough to know I could take him first! First rule of slaying is don't get into a one-on-one fight with a freakin' werewolf, Ken."

"I thought it was 'Don't Die'?"

Faith rolled her eyes. "Exactly!"

Running a hand back through her hair, she joined her at the water cooler. "Okay, so maybe you did something stupid but kinda for the right reasons. Let's say I agree with you for now. What exactly is it you wanna prove to her?"

"That just because I did that, and just because I still think I did the right thing, it doesn't mean we still can't be together."

"I dunno. She's pretty angry with you about it."

"And I'm pretty angry with her about some stuff, but I don't think I want that to mean we're over. I just have to find a way to draw a line under all this – agree to disagree – so that we can move on.

Faith thought about that for a moment. The brat had a point. She and Buffy needed the same thing. A way to just start fresh. New beginnings and all that crap.

"It's the future that counts. Not the past, kind of thing?"

"Exactly!" Kennedy nodded. "We were great together once, before Oz came back, I just need to remind her we can be again."

"Yeah, we were doing pretty good too until we went out on a date."

"Well that's a good sign," Kennedy mocked her.

"Piss off! At least I'm still hanging in there. When was the last time you got close enough to give Willow a kiss?"

"I want more than kisses."

Faith shrugged. "Yeah, well me too, but at least I'm getting that much."

"I meant I want everything, the whole package, not just the physical stuff." Faith could feel herself getting angry just picturing where this was going. "Obviously you don't or sex wouldn't be such a big deal for you."

Faith jabbed a finger towards Kennedy. "Has she been talking to you? Because you don't know _what_ I want, okay, and obviously neither does she. Just because I like sex doesn't mean I don't want the whole package… probably… if I knew what the whole package was, that is." She loosely rolled her shoulders as if shrugging her doubt away. "Why is B so freakin' convinced all I want is what's in her pants?"

Kennedy just gave her an expectant look, complete with a tiny questioning headshake, as if waiting for her to answer herself. Faith parodied the look perfectly, making Kennedy sigh and roll her eyes.

"Well, maybe if you put your energy into doing couple-y stuff and getting the smaller things right – like, dating – instead of into whining about how you're not _getting any,_ Buffy wouldn't think that's all you were interested in."

"I don't have time to do that!"

"You mean you don't want to make time to do that," Kennedy countered.

Faith's eyes narrowed dangerously. "No, I didn't mean that. Anyway, who the hell are you to be giving me advice? B and I are gonna be fine, eventually, when I figure all this shit out. But you… you can want the whole damn enchilada as much as you like, but it doesn't mean jack if she won't let you get anywhere near her."

"Yeah, but if you can't go on a date without nearly splitting up and you refuse to talk her about anything, how does that make your situation better than mine?"

"You really wanna know?" Faith straightened her stance. "A whole lotta tongue, that's what makes it better."

Kennedy took a half-step closer. "I don't expect you to understand it, because you have the emotional maturity of a six year old, but Willow and I have a deeper connection than that!"

"You and Red have no connection. Not since she found Oz's special tickle spot again."

Furious, Kennedy pushed her hard enough to make her fall back against one of the punching bags and set it swinging. The heavy bag pushing away from her back confused her balance further and despite doing her best she ended up with her ass planted on the floor.

Flipping easily back to her feet, Faith laughed gleefully and just as you could see Kennedy wondering what was so funny, her right fist on Kennedy's left cheek.

Now she had found another outlet for her frustration!

* * *

"So, in fact, it should all be fairly straightforward," Giles said as he set the shallow clay dishes of ingredients around the bed.

"I hate the word fairly," Xander said. "'Really' is a word I can get behind and 'very' is solid too, but 'fairly'? That's just like British for sixty-forty."

Seeing Willow's expression get even more panicky, he quickly added, "Which, hey, is way better than forty-sixty, or fifty-fifty even."

Buffy looked up from the index cards she was shuffling through to give him a pointed look. "I thought you were in a hurry?"

He gave her a one-eyed frowny-glare, not wanting Willow to think he was trying to rush through this. "I've got time. Sure you can tear yourself away from your recipes long enough though?"

"I'm just checking they're all here! Unless you're not bothered about having lunch tomorrow? What am I saying; you'll probably be needed to prop up the bar at Barnies, right?"

Old Xander would have winced at that, new Xander still did, but only on the inside.

"If it's a choice between eating a nice, well-cooked peaceful lunch and trying to chew through your turkey while dodging things trying to kill me, yep I choose Barnies."

"Pack it in, Children!"

Xander did wince from Giles' snap. He hadn't called them children in ages. Glancing from Giles to Willow, and seeing her looking sicker than ever, he took the rebuke without comment and dropped his head.

Buffy did the same, pocketing the recipes ready to get serious.

"As I was saying," Giles continued. "The spell itself is really just a simple reversal spell. The only reason I had so much trouble figuring it out is because the original was an archaic French version of a Chaotic Nerve spell."

"Chaotic Nerve?" Buffy asked.

Giles nodded. "It does pretty much as we feared. Attacks the central magical nerves of the victim and makes them, well, act chaotically."

"But that means it can't have been something natural to the demons." Willow's voice seemed to grow and fade in strength with every word.

"Indeed. It's far more likely that someone deliberately cast that spell over the Meluthian Hedraysin the hopes that whoever fought them would become infected."

Xander looked up sharply. "So someone targeted Willow?"

"Not necessarily. That would mean that someone had intentionally brought those demons here and manipulated us into fighting them."

"That's not impossible," Buffy said.

"No, but as we have no knowledge of any enemies here I don't think it will pay us to waste time speculating. We know they are migratory, making it also possible the spell was put on the demons at some other time for quite a different purpose. Right now I propose we concentrate on getting Willow better. Everything else can wait until later."

"Let's get started then," Willow said, before asking. "Should I be handcuffed again? Just in case?"

Giles shook his head. "No, the spell won't take more than a few minutes and we need to hold hands in any case. The reversal spell needs to travel between all the people struck by the original spell so that it can earth itself in you as it did the first time."

Willow held her hands up eagerly and Giles and Buffy both clasped one. Xander reluctantly took Buffy free hand – reminding himself he was doing this for Willow. Giles used a cheap plastic lighter to light a fat candle lodged between Willow's knees and then touched a flame to each of the dishes of ingredients, making them spit as they caught fire. Glittery, mauve-coloured clouds of smoke began to stream up from the dishes and swirl around the room. Putting the lighter back in his pocket, Giles held his hand out and Xander took it.

Smirking a little at their hand-holding circle, he quipped, "Well, I'm thankful for the beautiful smoke we have tonight."

"I'm not," Willow moaned, wrinkling her nose and sniffing slightly.

Glancing at her worriedly, Giles began a fast-paced monotonic chant.

"Quick, Giles," Willow said weakly.

Xander was staring at her anxiously now, and with a quick turn of his head he noticed Buffy was too.

Willow sniffed again and Giles chant grew even more rapid.

Seeing everyone's concerned looks, she said, "I'm okay. Don't stop! It's just the smoke. I'll be okay." She was screwing her nose this way and that now as she spoke.

"Just think about something else," Xander suggested. "Like concentrate on wriggling your toes instead."

"Okay."

With the way her nose was twitching it obviously wasn't working.

Waving the hand of Willow's he was holding, Giles tried to convey he just needed a couple more minutes. It gave Buffy an idea and she wiggled her index finger free of Willow's hand while reaching up to pinch Willow's nose.

She nearly had it between her thumb and fore finger when Willow sucked in an "Oh no!" and sneezed hard enough to blow the candle out.

The room was way darker than it should have been. Surely Willow couldn't have sneezed the electric light out too?

Buffy said "Ew!" at the sneeze coating her hand.

Willow said, "I'm not in the chimney again, am I?"

Giles said, "Hang on a moment." Then flicked his lighter back on.

Xander looked around at the wall of a cave covered in primitive, dark-red graffiti and then at the four frightened, hairy, naked people staring back at them and said:

"Oh, Gesundheit!"

[End of Act Two]

_[More soon - thanks for reading]_


	11. Act 3

Hi guys, sorry for the delay. I'll try to do better :) Thanks for reviews for the last segment.

* * *

Act Three 

Everyone froze, too bewildered to speak and too scared to make any sudden moves. Until, that is, the metal part of his cheap lighter was hot enough to burn Giles' thumb; making him accidentally drop it with a curse.

The sudden, absolute darkness brought shrieks from nearly everyone in the cave and at least four of them came from people he did not know. Keeping a firm grip on Xander's hand, Giles turned his head this way and that trying to get a sense of which way to run.

"Where _are _we?" he heard Buffy ask.

"I don't know," Willow said in a small voice.

"Well, wherever we are," Xander said. "It's definitely not Kansas."

"Or Boudenver."

It was balmy in the cave, far too hot to be their new home town, which had been hovering around eight Celsius all week during the daylight hours.

Giles was less worried about where they were, however, than who they were _with_. The alarmed shrieking was turning into more organised yelling. Definitely human but despite his extensive knowledge of languages – both modern and ancient – still very alien.

"We need light," he said.

"I think we need fire," Xander was on the save wavelength but more direct.

"Why don't we go for both," Willow suggested, before adding, "Tulekahju!"

There was a brilliant flash that blinded Giles for a moment and then a tiny ball of flames, about the size of a golf ball, floated in the air between the four of them. It lit their faces up, but nothing else.

"Okay, that was supposed to be bigger," Willow lamented.

"It's your magick, Willow," Giles explained as calmly as he could. "You can't rely on it to work as you would expect while the curse is still active."

"Well, how is that helpful?" she griped.

"I think it's helping our hosts," Buffy pointed out. Giles looked up to see the cave's inhabitants advancing on them. "To them it's a big neon sign saying 'Diner!'"

"Hey, come on, we don't know they're cannibals," Xander said, and Giles thought he was maturely attempting the voice of reason, until he added. "They might just wanna sacrifice us to George the Sun God."

They were all inching away now as Buffy pulled Xander and Willow back by their still joined hands, and Giles was tugged with them by his hand in Xander's. The… people? followed them slowly. Their expressions were curious and wary but not exactly hostile. Yet. It crossed his mind that if they let go of each other they could turn and run, but he was gaining a surprising amount of comfort from Xander's large, calloused – and above all – _familiar_ grip. Besides, he rationalised, keeping the strangers in front of them was probably a better idea.

The small ball of fire floated backwards with them, giving them no hope of losing themselves once more in the darkness. He didn't like to ask Willow to extinguish it though. For one, being lost in the darkness only held a very small amount of comfort at the best of times, and two, with her instability, she might accidentally increase its size exponentially and burn them all alive.

"Do you think they're herding us out or in?" Willow suddenly asked.

Giles wished she hadn't used the word herding.

"Out." Buffy said. "I'm pretty sure I can feel a draught on my back."

Xander turned his head towards Giles, trying to look behind them. "And I think I can see light."

"Like moonlight?" he asked, not wanting to look away himself.

"No, like George light."

"I'm sorry?"

"The sun?" Willow asked, getting it.

Buffy turned her head now. "I don't think so, but it's bright."

"Oh dear." He muttered, not sure he liked the sound of that.

As they walked backwards around a bend, Buffy's next words confirmed his unformed fears.

"Oh, and it has spears."

They all turned around now, the threat of weapons becoming more important than the curious stares, and Giles realised that the shrieks of alarm had indeed been just that… an alarm. There were four or five – hard to tell for sure beyond the burning branches they carried – of the, for want of a better word, cavemen coming towards them from the other direction.

"See, now that's what you call fire." Xander gestured at them.

"That's what I call trouble," Buffy said.

Giles nodded. The people in front were now conversing with the people behind them in a loud, guttural language he was sure no one born in the last few hundred thousand years had ever heard before. Trying to follow it was impossible.

"What should we do?" Willow asked.

"Can you do your freeze time spell?" Buffy asked. "That way we could just run past them."

"I think that would be very unwise," Giles said, making sure his tone didn't allow for debate.

"Okay, so what? Do I slay them? I mean, is that an option? Are they human or…?" she shrugged.

"Homo erectus or… or Neanderthals, maybe?" Willow shrugged too.

"So… not human? Give me something here, guys?"

"Whatever they are, they are not demons, Buffy. So you should avoid slaying them… unless they leave you no choice, of course," Giles added darkly.

"You shouldn't slay them full stop!" Willow said. "What if these particular guys are the roots of the human race? Not a lot of point in saving our skins if killing them winks us out of existence anyway!"

"So what then, Will?" Buffy asked angrily. "We let them kill us just on the off-chance it might save the rest of the human race?! Okay, I answered my own question there," she added irritably, "but I still don't like it."

"Perhaps we should just try communicating with them then," said Xander.

"How exactly?" Buffy demanded.

"I don't know. How did Livingstone speak to the savages?"

"We don't know they're savages!" Willow snapped.

"And we don't know they are not," Giles countered quietly.

The men with the flaming branches were advancing; bring the debate to an end. It was time to either act and take the offensive, or to wait passively to see what they would do. Neither choice was particularly attractive when the results were so incalculable.

They were within setting-them-on-fire distance – the smoke making Giles' eyes water – when Xander stepped forward with his hands held up in a gesture of surrender.

"Hey, look, sorry, we didn't mean to intrude but…"

A man, presumably, with thick hair and beard down to his hide-covered waist stepped forward to meet him, barking incomprehensible words. With one hand he slowly pumped his fire-torch up and down, with his other he groped Xander's clean-shaven face – making him cringe at the proximity to his eye – and then pulled at his clothes, popping a few buttons off of his shirt in the process.

"See, no big," Xander said, his voice tight with controlled fear. "He's just like Buffy was after drinking that beer."

"I did not smell this bad!"

"You kinda did by the second day," said Willow.

Buffy shot her a hurt look but Willow just shrugged.

As the caveman cosied up to Xander and began to sniff him, Giles grabbed Xander's arm and pulled him back into line.

"Enough."

That, he observed unhappily, did not go down well. Their behaviour became altogether more threatening at this apparent slight.

"We think he's the chief?" Buffy asked as the hullabaloo grew louder around them. "What we need is a show of dominance. If I can make their boss my bitch maybe they'll back down. You never know, they might even make me George the Sun God. That could be cool."

She stepped forward to confront Xander's new friend.

Willow caught her wrist. "No, Buffy! You can't just start fighting them!"

"Why not?"

"They haven't done anything wrong!"

"And I'm not waiting until they do!"

Buffy adamantly kept going closer, determined to throw her weight around despite the torches and spears now stabbing towards her; trying to keep her at bay. Willow was still trying to pull her back and Giles watched as she was towed into the clouds of fragrant smoke from the burning branches.

"Buffy, no!" he began, but it was too late; Willow's nose was already twitching, her free hand coming up to cover her mouth. "Xander!"

"What?" He was covering his good eye with his hand, the smoke driving it mad, and so was essentially blind right now. "Hang on a minute."

Giles said the only thing he knew would drive right to the heart of the problem without preamble: "Quickly, you must save Willow!"

Vision even more impaired than usual, Xander nevertheless reached out and hooked his hand under Willow's arm to pull her back from whatever danger he assumed Giles had spotted.

Seconds later, Willow sneezed.

* * *

Faith rolled back to her feet seconds after the water cooler tumbled over on top of them, the almost full plastic container splitting as it hit the hard floor and drenching them both with chilled water.

"Gah!" she said, shaking herself like a dog once she was upright.

Kennedy pushed herself to her hands and knees, moving slower because she'd taken more of a beating. Her almost healed black eye was bruising and swelling again and her nose was bleeding profusely, the water beneath her getting splattered with red.

She looked up at Faith, who had bruising coming out all over her face but didn't look anywhere near as bad as Kennedy felt. That pissed her off! She spat yet more blood onto the wet concrete and got carefully to her feet, holding her stomach.

"I think you broke my liver," she groaned.

"Good. You broke my freakin' favourite work shirt!"

The grey long sleeved t-shirt Faith was wearing was torn from the neck down to her sternum, leaving her bra and a lot of goose-pimpling skin exposed.

"Good." Kennedy stood there for a moment and then staggered the length of the training barn to the trampoline, where she collapsed over the edge, groaning some more.

"You bleed on that B'll kick your ass."

"When she sees what you've done to me, she'll kick your ass first."

"Need Buffy to fight your battles for you?"

"No, I can fight my own battles. But she's still gonna be pissed off with you."

Kennedy pushed herself off of the trampoline, spat another mouthful of blood onto the floor beside it, and then started slowly for the door. She needed a glass of water, a bag of ice and half a bottle of Advil. Oh, and some dry clothes would be nice. Now the heat of the fight was fading her drenched clothes were making her freezing.

"Hey, where d'ya think you're going?" Faith demanded. "You better stay and clean this shit up!"

Kennedy turned in the doorway, trying not to shiver because it hurt.

"You're the janitor's lackey, you clean it up," she said before hobbling towards the house.

* * *

"Oh, that one made me not feel so good." Willow let go of Buffy's hand to hold her spinning head instead. "Is my nose bleeding?"

Buffy peered under the hanging red hair to check.

"Nope, just… lots of snot," she said with a grimace.

"Oh, gross!" Willow went to wipe her nose with her hands but then thought better of it.

"You can use my sleeve," Buffy offered, voice bright even though her grimace was greater. "I can always… burn my sweater when we get home."

"Gee, thanks, Buff. I'm that disgusting that you want to burn anything I touch now."

"Not everything," Buffy promised in a wheedling tone. "Just… your nose."

Willow gave her a look. Buffy rolled her eyes, hands flying up in the air.

"I offered you my sleeve, didn't I? Xander didn't even do that much!"

"Hey, why bring me into it?" he snapped in a low voice as they all looked around. "And maybe it's because I'm not as big a sycophant as you."

"Do you even know what… a… sycophant… is?" Buffy asked, her words coming slower as something dawned on her distracted brain.

"Yeah, it's someone who's sick, and not the good kind, the gross kind, the kind that will willingly have their favourite sweater covered in snot just to get cut some slack…"

"Would you please stop bickering for five minutes," Giles snapped as he handed Willow his handkerchief. "Honestly, anyone would think you lot were back in high school the way you've been behaving recently…"

"I can't stop, Giles," Willow said, her voice sounding distant to her own ears as her eyes had trouble believing what they were seeing. "Because as soon as I stop bickering, I have to start…"

As she trailed off, Buffy took up the end of the sentence. "…dealing."

"Dealing with what?" he asked over the noise of Willow blowing her nose.

"This!" Xander spread his arms. "Giles, look around!"

Giles finally did so. "Good Lord!"

Sunnydale's Main Street was exactly as it had been – prior to the rebuilding and remodelling that had taken place after Glory's attempt to get home had practically split it in half, anyway.

All more than a little overwhelmed, they began to walk slowly down the middle of the deserted road.

"Wow," Buffy said, trying to disguise the lump in her throat.

She'd never expected to see any of this again. She'd never really realised she wanted to either until it was all laid out in front of her. She had never truly been happy here – okay, maybe for a month here and a month there, but most of the time life in Sunnydale had been hard and dangerous and lonely and depressing – the more so the older she got. Now though, standing on the street where she'd almost been killed, what? two dozen times, she just felt like she'd come home.

God, what did that say about her life now then?

"My word," Giles said this time, seemingly stuck on two words at a time.

"Sneeze again, Will!" Xander was demanding. "Come on, dammit, sneeze!"

Someone else obviously wasn't so happy to see home again. His reaction was a little strong though, but then that wasn't unusual with Xander these days.

"I can't just do it to order!" Willow said apologetically. "If I could I'd just keep sneezing until the chaos randomly bounced us back home."

"We are home," Buffy pointed out, feeling someone should say it.

"No, we're in the past," Willow said. "I hate it as much as you, but Sunnydale is gone forever."

"Hands up who doesn't hate that fact." Xander was the only one to put up his hand, so he held up his other one too. Then added, "What exactly is it you miss about the place? The Hellmouth? – because I'm sorry to say, that makes you crazy."

"Boudenver has a Hellmouth too," Giles reminded him.

"Okay, is it because Boudenver doesn't have a wide variety of demons trying to kill us on a weekly basis that makes you homesick for this place?"

"It was a nightly basis for me," Buffy sighed. Had she just sounded wistful? Oh God! She shook her head. "But you're right. Sunnydale wasn't so… oh, the Espresso Pump!"

Xander did a double-take, mostly so he could keep her in sight as she took off running up the road.

"The Mouth!" he called after her. "They have burgers and espresso!"

"Yeah, but the mochas aren't so good there," Willow said with a little grin and ran after Buffy.

Xander looked at Giles, who shrugged as he said, "We should keep up with them."

"I vote for no." Xander watched his sneakers as they scuffed along the road.

"If Willow sneezes without us, we may have to live the rest of our lives here."

"In that case, I vote for yes."

"I thought you might."

"Why's it shut?" Buffy griped, rattling the window shutters a little. "What time is it?"

Giles started to look at his watch and then realised how pointless that would be. He craned his neck instead to see the clock on the front of the town hall.

"A quarter past eight."

"But… but it used to be open to midnight!"

She was feeling way more upset than not being able to get a hot chocolatety beverage should have warranted, especially considering they really had more important things to worry about, but now the idea had been put in her head… She rattled the shutters again wondering if Giles would tell her off she just… removed them. After all, they were in an emergency situation here. Giles would probably welcome a cup of hot, sweet tea to sip while he explained to them what the hell was going on.

"It's pretty early for it to be that deserted around here," Willow said. "Where is everyone?"

Buffy gave up on the mocha-dream and turned to look up and down the street.

"That's a good point, Will."

"It was an obvious point, but okay," Xander muttered.

"Yeah, well you didn't say it," Willow said to him.

"I didn't think anyone needed to!"

"And it doesn't stop it from being a good one," Buffy added.

"Enough!" Giles said firmly. "It is very quiet. In fact, without wishing to jinx us as you say, it's far too quiet. There's not a single place open. Even the cinema is dark."

He turned to Willow and Xander. "You two have lived in this town the longest. Just how far back do you suppose we are?"

Almost at once there was the sound of several pairs of running feet coming from one of the many service alleys on Main Street and then Willow was running by.

She went by without seeing them and four jaws gradually closed again.

"You know what you were saying about us being in high school, Giles?" Buffy said, gesturing after the running girl.

"Wow, was my hair really ever that long?" Willow leaned forward so she could watch herself run away. That's when it occurred to her. "Wait, what am I running from? I don't remember…"

The owners of the other feet answered her question before she could finish it.

A tall, gangly boy came tearing out of the alley like a pro sprinter. He looked familiar but Buffy couldn't remember why until she heard Xander's breathless whimper of:

"Jesse!"

So that was how far back they were dealing with. Jesse was in human face but Buffy could feel the vamp vibes coming off of him. They were strong too, meaning he was either a supervamp – which was unlikely considering he'd only been undead for a few days before Xander the complete newbie had staked him – or he had company right behind him.

She braced herself, ready to intercept once she had them both in sight, but was too stunned to do anything but stand and stare as the second vampire ran out of the alley. She did manage to catch Xander though as he fainted towards her; the sight of himself with fangs proving to be more excitement than he could handle.

"Giles," Willow said, sounding close to hyperventilating. "Um, unless Xander's been keeping a really big secret from us for, uh, seven years…I somehow don't think we've just gone back in time."

Giles was staring down the street after the vampire boys. "Oh dear."


	12. Act 3:2

After swallowing some painkillers, Kennedy had practically crawled up the kitchen stairs, limped along the corridor to the main bathroom and fallen into a hot shower. It only took a few moments under the awesome spray before she was feeling better. Sure, she still hurt all over, but it didn't seem to hurt as much now she wasn't shivering in wet clothes.

She'd been pretty stupid down there. She may have the potential to be Faith's equal in a fight but she wasn't there yet, she knew that. It was why Buffy could have still taken her down with one hand behind her back every time they sparred if she wanted. If she wasn't so worried it would bruise her confidence.

Faith didn't give a crap about her confidence and she didn't always fight fair. Not that she went in for eye-gouging and fish-hooking but she definitely had more of a street-fighter style than the blonde slayer did.

Looking down at her naked body was perfect evidence of that. There was hardly a patch of skin without a bruise on it and they'd only been fighting for ten minutes!

If Buffy saw her like this she probably would go nuts at Faith, but, Kennedy knew, if Willow saw her like this – and knew it was from fighting with Faith – she'd probably go nuttier... at her. She'd see it as another fight Kennedy had gotten into through jealousy and pride. Another fight that she didn't have a hope of winning. Another fight that _could_ have gotten her killed.

After all, Faith still didn't have the best reputation around here.

"Maybe I do have a death wish," she murmured with half a smile as she turned around to let the hot spray sooth the bruises on her front.

That was if Willow even cared about it, but Kennedy had to hope that she would, even if it did lead to another argument. Because if Willow didn't… well, she might as well have a death wish.

Once she was sure the warm water couldn't do any more for her, she shut it off and stepped out of the cubicle. As she was wrapping a towel around her body she remembered with a sinking feeling that she didn't have any clothes in the house any longer. They were all out at the girl's dorm. There was no way she was putting her wet clothes back on to go down there and it was way too cold and wet outside to run out there in just a towel.

She dried off slowly and carefully while deciding what to do. Buffy's clothes would be the closest fit but if somehow Faith saw her heading in there mostly naked… No, she couldn't even be dealing with another argument with her tonight, and another smack down probably would kill her.

Dawn's clothes then? D wouldn't mind and it wasn't like she was here to wear them, but they'd all be way too big on her. She could roll up the sleeves and the pant legs and that might work…

"What about Willow?" The thought left her mouth unbidden, but she knew why at once. "It'd be a way to start a conversation and even if she yells…"

Well, that would suck, but she probably wouldn't not let her borrow clothes even if she was pissed as hell. And they'd fit better than Dawn's for sure. Plus, wearing Willow's clothes would be the closest she'd come to being near her ex for a while. Faith had been right about that at least.

Without giving herself any time to chicken out, Kennedy tucked the towel around herself properly and left the bathroom; already planning a quick explanation for turning up in Willow's room in just a towel so it didn't automatically get her kicked right back out.

She was already moving easier – although not without discomfort – by the time she was knocking on Willow's door. There was no answer, but after knocking gently again, Kennedy just let herself in, figuring if Willow was asleep she could just snag a t-shirt and some sweatpants and duck back out again without disturbing her.

The room was dark and after a few more seconds she realised, empty too. She snapped on the main light and looked around, wondering where Willow had gone. Wasn't she supposed to be on bed rest? And she definitely wasn't in the bathroom, because Kennedy had been – unless she'd been invisible. That thought brought a slightly dirty smile to her face.

It was unlikely though. Maybe Willow was downstairs. She looked around again as she went to the wardrobe on the other side of the room. Something felt… off. Why would Willow be downstairs if she was so sick even visitors had to be kept to a minimum?

There was a tray of half-eaten Thanksgiving food on the dressing table. A pile of Giles' book still by the bed. Catching sight of what was on the bed made her stop halfway across the room. Four dishes of burnt herbs and powders. Spell stuff. That was when she remembered Giles and the others had been coming up to do a spell to help Willow just before she went to the training barn. She hadn't been needed, apparently, so feeling left out again, she'd gone to punch stuff.

That must be it. The spell had worked, Willow was cured and that was why she was downstairs. Kennedy smiled, relieved more than she could say, and the weight that dropped off of her alleviated her aches and pains way more than the shower had.

Still smiling, Kennedy grabbed the tattiest clothes in Willow's wardrobe – less chance of causing an argument that way – and got dressed as quick as she could. She was planning on going down and congratulating Willow on being better. Instead, she found herself sitting on the edge of the bed, just looking around, remembering when this room had been hers as well, and wondering just what it was going to take to make sure it was again.

* * *

"That was me. Right? That was me? Me as a vampire? That was…"

His legs still felt wobbly as they hurried down the street but at least the fainting spell had only lasted a moment or so. That might have been embarrassing if the not-coming-around-in-his-own-bed like he'd hoped hadn't taken all of his attention.

"Yes, Xander, that was you… once," Giles assured him.

"Wow, but that was me! I mean me! With the fangs! The big, big fangs!"

"It wasn't you, Xander," Willow said sympathetically. "I mean, it wasn't you you. You're you you."

"No, not me me. Vamp-me. Me the vamp. With the fangs!"

"You need to stop freaking out, Xand," Buffy said.

"Stop freaking out? Did you see the me?"

"Yes! And I'm the one who has to stake the you! So you need to stop freaking out before you make me freak out even more than I am about it."

"Stake me?" His voice went more high-pitched. "You can't stake me!"

"Not you you! Vamp-you."

"Oh, right. No, wait, I don't like that either! Just because its vamp-me doesn't make it's not me me too!"

"Xander, you know that's not how it works," Giles said. "That thing ceased to be you the moment you were turned."

"But, still," he said weakly.

"Giles, I have to go after them faster than this or I'm going to lose them," Buffy said.

"You can't leave us," Willow said, sounding panicky.

"Catching them up is the only way I can save you!" Buffy said to her.

"Yes, but if Willow were to sneeze…" Giles began.

"Actually – or I mean, that too – but actually I was talking about all the vampires that are peering out of the windows at us."

"What?" Buffy looked around wildly and saw what she meant. There were yellow eyes at nearly every darkened window on the block. "Dammit, I thought I was just getting that vampy feeling from Xander and Jesse. The vamps previously known as Xander and Jesse," she added quickly, before Xander could lose it again.

"Yeah, Buff," he said eagerly. "No point staking me to save Will if she's just going to get eaten by other me's fangy friends anyway."

"Oh boy, this is getting confusing," Buffy sighed.

"Confusion is the least of our worries," Giles said. "Sunnydale appears to be over run with vampires."

"So what's new?" Xander asked. "So the shops shut a little earlier and there's no people on the streets…"

"Ask yourself why there are no people on the streets?" Giles said.

"It was never like this," Buffy said before he could. "Even at the height of vamp season there was never this many in town. And why are they _in_ the shops? They don't need people food. Most of them don't bother about soap."

"Maybe they're just in them because they can be," Willow said with a little shrug.

"It's always been that way. Shops are open to the public, Will. Anyone can go in."

"No, I mean, because there is no one to stop them. They can go where they like because there isn't anyone in Sunnydale to keep them under control. That they're scared of pissing off."

"You mean no slayer?" Xander asked, looking around even more warily than before. "Sunnydale without a slayer? How does that work?"

"Like this I should imagine," Giles said, waving his hand.

"Hey, it has a slayer," Buffy said indignantly. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yes, now, but perhaps the you of this world isn't."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Your mother very nearly moved to the Cleveland area, you know?"

"She did?"

"Let me guess…" Xander began.

"Boudenver?" Willow beat him to it.

"Yes. Strangely enough," Giles gave a weird little grim smile. "Only two schools in the country were prepared to accept you after what happened at Hemery."

"But that wasn't my fault!" Buffy whined.

"Your mother chose Sunnydale High over McKinley High because she wanted to keep you closer to your father."

Buffy huffed irritably. "Maybe if she'd chosen Cleveland he might've invited me to Thanksgiving."

They had speed-walked the length of Main Street now. Half a block ahead was the alley to the Bronze – assuming the Bronze still existed in this world. Xander looked behind them. A few of the vampires had wandered out of the shops and were following them casually down the road. His double and Jesse had run into the alley, chasing Willow, but he didn't like the idea of following. Not just because it might mean him – on some level – getting staked, but also because walking down there with a bunch of vampires following didn't feel like a good idea. He'd had enough of those close encounters back in real-time Sunnydale.

"Hey, maybe Will-of-this-world doesn't really need saving. She might be okay without us following her into a dark alley."

"So you're just happy to bite me without even trying to save me?" Willow asked, majorly hurt.

"It's not you you, Will!"

"It's more me me than it is you you…" Willow began.

"Oh, God, don't start that again," Buffy begged, and Giles echoed her sentiments.

"Well, I'm right! I'm still human at least. And what? Sixteen? I still have my whole life ahead of me!"

"Yeah, but it's not your life, it's _her_ life!" Xander stressed.

"Her life is my life!"

"I think I'm getting a headache," Giles said.

"You and me both," Buffy backed him.

"Okay, fine, we'll go save you," Xander said exasperated. "But shouldn't we at least deal with these guys first?"

He turned to point behind him and then took a giant step back, the vampires had stopped being so casual and we closing in. Only five of them but with Willow's magick on the fritz and the rest of them without weapons any more of them would have been overkill. Or at least, a really lot of kill.

At his reaction the other three turned as well. Giles copied his step back and pulled Willow with him. Buffy stepped forward, bracing herself for a fight.

"Okay, this should be just like old times," she said, not a hint of worry in her voice, rolling her shoulders as she reached around to the back of her pants.

Not finding what she was looking for, she patted the small of her back a few times.

"Buff, you have no stake!" Xander reminded her.

"Well, don't tell them that!" Now she sounded kinda worried.

"You can't fight them unarmed, Buffy," Giles said, alarmed.

"Sure I can. It'll just be better exercise." But now she _was_ taking a step back. "Not like you forget how," she added under her breath.

"Watch out!" Willow suddenly yelled.

Xander heard the old engine before he looked up to see the van hurtling down the road towards them. Buffy tackled him to the sidewalk as Giles and Willow pulled each other back as fast as they could. Buffy helped him up by the scruff of his shirt and pressed him back against the brick wall as the van barrelled into the vampires.

One was thrown across the street and another was crushed beneath its wheels. The van screeched to a stop and three men jumped out.

All four of their jaws dropped… again.

"Giles?" Buffy said in shocked whisper as her years younger, but somehow more haggard looking, Watcher belted one of the still standing vamps with a baseball bat and then staked him as he dropped.

"Larry!" Xander's voice was equally hushed and surprised; staring as his ex-bully rushed another of the vamps like a line-backer, bowled him clean over and broke his neck. He turned quick for his size and staked the vamp while he writhed on the ground in pain.

The last vampire ran towards them, arms out, pleading with Xander to save him. As the third man spun around and shot him through the heart with a crossbow they saw who he was.

"Oz!" Willow said, with as much astonishment but without the also needed amount of hush.

"There's another one," Oz said all too calmly for the situation as he turned to the shout of his name, and fired straight at Xander.

"Ye G…" Buffy reached out and caught the crossbow bolt just before it pierced his chest. "…ods."

And he was going to faint again.

Buffy grabbed his arm tight and Willow latched onto his other just as the poofed vampire dust went up her nose and…

"Aaaachoooo!"

…was the last thing he heard for a while.

* * *

Faith had cleaned up the training barn. _Not, _she made clear to herself, because of what Kennedy had said, but because it seemed like the right thing to do. And if the brat wasn't going to do it, then she had to. She'd make Kennedy pay for it somehow down the line.

Kennedy couldn't have been further from her mind right then though, as she quickly dried herself off with a towel in her room and got in to some fresh and sexy clothes. Jeans and a tight t-shirt, _because let's face_, she thought as she brushed her hair, _B digs the classics._

_I hope, _she added almost subconsciously, not wanting to admit that she didn't really know what Buffy dug about her. She had a feeling leather pants and spandex tube top might be a little much for making a pumpkin pie, though, and a mini skirt just wasn't practical for the slaying she was going to do after.

Hair straight and actually looking good despite her dunking in the water cooler, and bruises already fading on her face, she checked herself out in the mirror one last time and left her room.

She'd avoided the kitchen on her way up, not wanting Buffy to see her looking a complete mess and giving her grief for fighting with Kennedy, but now she was ready. Maybe not for serious talking yet, that still gave her a weird shivery feeling up her spine for some reason – okay she knew the reason – but for baking a pie and shooting the breeze, she was ready.

As long as Buffy didn't push they could have a nice hour or so together before it was time for her to go on patrol. It was something Faith had been shying away from since the disastrous date and something Buffy had been too, despite constantly asking to talk. Hadn't yesterday been evidence of that? As soon as Faith was prepared to sit down and force their way through the awkwardness, Buffy had made up an excuse to run in the other direction. She didn't blame her, she was guilty of it too obviously, but it had to stop if they were going to get beyond where they were; and if she was ever gonna get laid again.

She went down the front stairs two at a time, trying not to grin nervously because it made the bruise on her cheek ache. She wondered why the fire wasn't lit as she went through the living room, Xander had normally done that by now and it made the room cold. She'd ride him for it later though; right now she had bigger stuff on her agenda.

She pushed through the swing door and the over-cheerful, "Hey, B!" had already left her lips before she realised she was alone in the kitchen. "Huh. Okay then."

There was something burning, or actually, already burnt, she realised as she went quickly to the oven, turned it off and pulled the door open. Smoke billowed out around her, making her cough, and she backed away quickly to open the back door.

As the smoke left that way, she looked around the kitchen. There were half-full dishes of food all over the place. Notes on scraps of paper Buffy had left on the counter. The _oven _being left on. Obviously B had only stepped out for a minute but it had taken longer. Maybe she was upstairs with Will.

Faith grabbed a plate of something that looked like overfried bhajis – but probably wasn't meant to – from the side and a beer out of the fridge, and then sat down at the kitchen table to wait.

* * *

"Is he awake yet?"

Willow looked up at Buffy as she spoke and then back down at Xander's head resting on her lap.

"I think he's getting there." She stroked his brow. "Do you have _any _idea where we are?"

"Other than somewhere dark, cold and kinda olde-worlde-y, no," Buffy said regretfully as she looked around them some more. "Giles should be back soon though. How are you doing?"

"Snottier than ever… and the seat of my pajama-pants is getting kinda damp."

Buffy chuckled softly. "Well, I can't do a lot about your butt but the offer of my sleeve is still open."

Willow gave her a strained smile. "Its okay, I have my own, you know."

"I didn't say you didn't!" Buffy started harshly. "Jeez, can't you just not…"

"I didn't mean it like that," Willow said quickly. "I was just… well I do have my own, see." She pointed at it. "No point using yours until mines all… too gross to use."

"Oh." Buffy's anger died down as quick as it had risen. "Sorry. I guess I'm just tired."

"Yeah, it must be late. We're all getting a little cranky."

"Hard to tell the difference with us these days."

Willow glanced at her quickly. With Buffy's low tone, she couldn't be sure if it was a genuine comment or if the Slayer was being sarcastic.

"Yeah," was all she eventually said.

When Buffy looked over at her, a familiar glint in her eyes, Willow thought she was about to warm to the topic again. She really didn't have the energy to get into it but didn't have the energy to fight it either.

She was saved from both when Xander suddenly launched into a sitting position. He swayed slightly before looking around at them.

"This isn't home."

"Nope," said Willow.

"Do I have fangs?" he asked next.

Buffy answered this time. "Nope."

He checked his teeth anyway. Satisfied they were nice and blunt; he sagged slightly before manoeuvring himself around to sit against the old wall between them.

"Did I faint again?"

"Yep!" They both answered.

"You've done that a lot tonight," Buffy added.

"Twice! Twice isn't a lot. Besides, you'd faint too if you saw yourself as vampire."

"Hey, I got _snuggled_ by my vampire-self once and I didn't faint," Willow said with a slight giggle.

"Whatever," Xander said woozily sullen.

"Hey, be nice," Buffy told him. "We're having a mellow moment."

"We are?" He looked around without moving his head from the wall. "Where are we having this mellow moment?"

"No idea yet," Willow admitted.

Xander suddenly sat forward again fast. "Where's Giles?" He turned to Willow accusingly. "Did you sneeze without him?"

She leaned away, feeling hurt. "I would never do that."

"Chill, Xan, he's just gone to get the lie of the land."

"So you _might_ sneeze without him!" he said to Willow.

"Xander, do you not get the concept of mellow moment?" Buffy demanded softly.

"Well, you were out cold with the fainting!" Willow snapped at him, getting beyond sick of his bad attitude with her. "What would you have preferred us to do? Leave you here or carry you?"

"Are we in Sunnydale still?"

"No."

"Then you should have left me here."

"What?" Willow asked, annoyed.

Buffy summed it up better. "So now you have a death wish too?"

"If I had a death wish I would have stayed in Sunnydale," he barked, equally annoyed by their assumption. "But if you two had any sense you'd have stuck with the guy with the better chance of getting you home again – Giles!"

"For your information, Giles insisted on going alone," Willow told him. "But even if he hadn't I wouldn't have left you!"

"Ten more minutes of this attitude and I might've done," Buffy muttered.

Xander turned his head to glare at her. Buffy glared back. Giles walked out of the thin fog before either of them could speak.

"Ah, Xander, I'm glad you're back with us," he said with a smile before turning to Buffy. "We are in Ireland, I believe."

"Ireland, really? That's kind of cool. How can you be sure, though?" Buffy asked as she stood up.

"There were people talking in the square. They have pretty thick accents," he explained. "Hard to miss."

"What year in Ireland?" Willow asked, feeling a little left out of the conversation.

After all, she was the one who had zapped them there. Okay, not a strong selling point usually, but in this instance she had the right to join in.

"I'm not sure, but from their attire I'm assuming a few centuries prior to the present at least."

"Wow, we're really quantum leaping it tonight, aren't we," Xander said after a low whistle between his teeth.

"I could keep saying sorry," Willow said, trying to smile, "but it's probably getting boring for you guys by now, right?"

"It's not your fault," Giles promised her. "And at least we're all still together. There is a tavern on the other side of the square. I suggest we head over and try and find out more about where we are."

"A tavern, huh?" Xander jumped to his own feet. "Yeah, that's probably the best place to find out stuff."

Willow's legs were dead thanks to Xander's head resting on them in the cold for so long. She held her hand out to him for some help up, but he didn't notice.

Buffy did notice and took her hand, gently hauling her up.

"Thanks." She stamped life back into her feet on the cobbles.

"Do you think the tavern takes dollars?" Xander asked Giles, already walking into the fog with him.

Willow shared an eye-roll with Buffy before they followed close behind.

_Tbc..._


	13. Act 3:3

Hey guys, thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. Sorry for the long delay between updates. Life suddenly got busy.

* * *

Faith woke bright and early the next morning and stretched languidly in bed. Buffy had never come back down to the kitchen the night before and after an hour she had just given up and gone out on patrol.

She'd found one vampire – one more than the night before – and considered herself lucky. Then she had gone home ready to try the bonding with Buffy thing again.

Buffy still hadn't been around, probably already in bed, so Faith had polished off another preparation dish – still lying around – before going to bed herself. She'd spent a while with Buffy then, if only in her fantasies.

Faith bounced out of bed, more than ready to give it a third go. It was Thanksgiving today and after a quick shower she was planning on going downstairs and making this a day she and Buffy could remember – and hopefully for good reasons not bad.

* * *

Kennedy woke up a little startled to find herself in her old bed – Willow's current bed. She'd never meant to stay in the room long, really wanting to go down and see Will, but obviously the stress, the fight, and probably more than that the amount of painkillers she'd taken had knocked her out. She couldn't even remember falling asleep let alone cuddling up in Willow's covers.

She stretched carefully but was happy to find that most of her aches had already gone – power of Slayer healing, she wasn't sure she would ever get used to how cool it was!

Willow wasn't in the bed with her. Had she seen Kennedy here and decided to sleep somewhere else entirely or had they shared a bed but Willow had left really early? It was annoying not to know, but deep down she figured it was probably the first one. She couldn't blame her, it wasn't like she'd planned to have Kennedy in her bed and sharing covers with an ex was always awkward unless you were drunk. Of course it was still awkward even then, but only after you both woke up the next morning.

She got out of the bed a little more gingerly than usual, the deeper bruises still making themselves known – oh how she longed for the day she could give Faith as good as she took – but once she was up she felt pretty okay.

She pulled the curtains open with cheerful enthusiasm and was greeted with a dark, drizzling morning. It dampened her spirits for a moment but then she shook it off. This was a new day, a fresh start. Willow was better, and hadn't kicked her out of the bed even if she didn't sleep in it with her. Things were looking up.

* * *

The tavern was noisy and crowded and looked vaguely like Barnies probably would have looked if it had existed two or three centuries ago. Folk music was playing; no actually it was _being_ played, by three men in the corner. The guy with the accordion was wearing a faded felt top hat and doing an energetic jig as his fingers flew over the keys. Some other people were jigging too, mainly women, and the rest of the patrons were drinking… enthusiastically. It was hardly Buffy's first choice for a night out.

Faith, she figured, would probably think it was coolest thing ever. She smiled as she imagined Faith bringing her here, all proud of herself for coming up with such an awesome original date. Like Faith was ever going to ask her out again! With every awkward day that passed she was starting to think that ship had sailed. It hurt but what was she supposed to do?

She didn't doubt that Faith was attracted to her but if the physical was as far as it was going to go she wished Faith would just admit it already and let them both move on. She had obviously been kidding herself that they would ever be a real couple. Faith just wasn't made for serious relationships. And even if she was trying… if this was her idea of trying, they definitely had no hope. Buffy needed more than a sex-buddy – no matter how good the sex would undoubtedly be – and she was really starting to think that was all Faith was capable of being. For the foreseeable future anyway. She didn't want to talk, didn't even seem to want to just hang out anymore… Faith had changed a lot since Buffy had been in high school, but maybe she could only change so much. Maybe she could be a better person without ever losing her old attitude towards relationships…

When had this turned into a good time to dwell on Faith? Shaking off the unhelpful thoughts she followed behind the others as Xander made his way to the bar, hating the way the sticky floor sucked at her shoes and feeling way bad for Willow who was only wearing a pair of slipper socks.

Giles had been right; everyone around them had raucous Irish brogues. They also, for the most part, had long, dirty hair and dull, shapeless clothes. Her first thought was: _Who on Earth would ever want to live in the past? _Her second was: _We stick out, like really. We stick out so much we make sore thumbs look discreet._

And on the heels of that thought the chatter around them died out and the silence spread like a shockwave to the edges of the room until even the music petered out with one last flat note from the piano.

"I think we've been spotted," she whispered to Willow.

Willow gave her a slightly sarcastic '_really?_' look before concentrating on what was being said at the bar.

"We're from London," Giles was saying.

The hush around them got hushier as the barman said, "English, are yer?"

Buffy's slayer instincts detected a familiar shift in the crowd as some of the men reached for hidden weapons and her muscles tightened in response. Obviously Giles had said the wrong thing. She wondered if telling them they were American instead would be better or worse. Had America been discovered yet? And if so, did these guys know that?

In the end it was Willow who saved the day. "We come with a declaration from, uh, from the Queen."

"Oh, aye, and since when does the Queen make declarations to the likes of us?" asked a burly man, standing close enough to breath ale all of them.

"I meant, uh, the King?"

Buffy wished Willow didn't sound so unsure, but at least she was trying.

"Go on then," said the barman. "What's he want from us this time?"

A few in the crowd laughed.

"Uh," Willow said again.

Giles pulled a notebook out of his pocket with a flourish and made a big deal about turning a page and preparing to read. Buffy's eyebrow rose but she kept the rest of her disbelief inside.

"The king hereby offers a truce on all taxes," he pretended to read pompously. "In an effort to bring peace to our two nations."

There was silence after that. Broken a moment later by someone asking:

"What else he got?"

There was more laughter.

"Ah." Giles turned a few pages while he waited for inspiration to strike. "Ah, yes, and that we buy everyone here a… a tankard of your finest ale as a token of his trust."

More silence.

"T-two tankards?" Giles tried.

"Why don't we make it three?" Xander said, pulling his wallet from his pocket. "Just to really seal the truce. The King knows you're all hardworking guys, just trying to make an honest buck like him. He just wants you to know he royally supports you and stuff. So, what do you say, gonna let His Majesty by you a beer?"

There was some murmuring and then the barman said: "For sure, we'll drink the bastard's money, right lads?"

There was a cheer from all sides and the music started back up with even more buoyancy than before. The four time-travellers breathed a sigh of relief as the ale began pouring.

"How much do you think this is going to cost me, Giles?" Xander asked, peering into his wallet.

"Just give him all your coinage," Giles said, "and tell him it's from the King's mint in America."

There _was_ another little confrontation over the money but it was settled quickly thanks to Giles' suggestion and then they were pretty much left alone again. Four tankards of ale were pushed across the bar to them. Buffy and Willow both declined but Xander and Giles took theirs. Xander grabbed the spare two as well.

"Feel like sneezing yet, Will?" Buffy asked as they sat down on squat three-legged stools at one end of a long wooden table.

"No, but believe me, I'm trying."

"Don't force it," Giles advised. "The magick may sense it and quell itself."

"You're talking about magick like it's a living, breathing thing," Xander said as he supped from a tankard. He pulled a little face and then grinned. "This isn't that bad. I was expecting it to taste like boiled rats or something."

"Magick is a living, breathing thing," Willow said. "It just doesn't live and breathe in the same way we do."

"You make it sound creepy," Buffy said without thinking.

As soon as she said it she expected a negative reaction from Willow, but the Witch just shrugged.

"It is at the moment. I don't like the fact that it's working against me right now, that's for sure. Magick is what I am, if it goes wonky, then does that mean I'll be wonky forever too?"

"There's more to you than magick, Willow," Xander sounded a little impatient.

"Like what? I obviously suck at relationships. Kennedy was really into me until we got together and then I blew it."

"First of all, you were with her for months before you blew it, and you didn't blow it, you dumped her!"

"She dumped me!"

"Only because she thought you were dumping her," Buffy said, and knew at once it was a mistake to give an opinion.

Willow rounded on her in a way she hadn't with Xander – that was getting annoying too. "Oh, so it's all my fault again. She just assumed so that gives her the right to finish things between us?"

"Why do I feel like I've had this conversation a _million times _before?" Buffy looked away exasperated. "If you wanna get back with her, just ask her out again."

"It's not that easy…"

"Trust me, it _is _that easy. You ask, she'll say yes, you both live happily ever after."

"It's _not _that easy!"

"Because of Oz," Giles asked, surprisingly.

Buffy had thought he'd keep out of this conversation. Annoying relationship chat not really being his thing.

"No, because…" Willow looked like she didn't have an answer, but then said. "… Because we want different things."

"You want her and she wants you," Buffy said. "Different, sure, but not exactly incompatible."

"She's young and rich and a slayer, and I'm… not so young, with no money and a… a wonky witch!"

"Sounds like a match made in one of the more lenient heavens," Xander joked.

"She goes into things fists first with no thought of the consequences," Willow tried.

"Yeah, well you used to go into things with wiggly fingers first with no thought of the consequences," Buffy countered.

"Should have known you'd take her side," Willow muttered.

As Xander shook his head and Giles raised his eyes to the low ceiling, Buffy nabbed one of the spare tankards from in front of Xander and muttered a "Whatever." back.

She sank back a little on the stool, wanting out of the conversation that never went anywhere, for this round at least. The ale really wasn't that bad. A little rougher on the palate and a little sweeter than she was used to her beer being, but it was stomachable. It occurred to her that stomaching too much wouldn't be a good idea. Next time Willow sneezed they might end up in a pit of fire demons and she'd need all her wits about her to make up for the fact her slayer skills were probably a little rusty. Not gone, or even dampened, but she just didn't use them as much as she used to.

She still sparred with Kennedy regularly but she hadn't actually patrolled for, what, three weeks? And she hadn't actually slayed anything then either, she'd let Kennedy have the single demon they'd found. Giles kept saying that any day now they were going to get swamped by demons and the undead, as those that had fled Sunnydale made their way to the Cleveland area. It wasn't happening though. Either evil was taking its sweet time in getting there or their Hellmouth was defective. And even her training of the newbies and the watcher babies was mostly just a lecturer's role. She shouted out instructions from the side and occasionally demonstrated something, but that was it.

And she was happy with that, right? Out of the game was what she had always wanted after all. Except she wasn't out of it, just on the sidelines. She was close, but not close enough and not far enough away at the same time. It was maddening.

Maybe if Faith was never going to change and be the perfect girlfriend, she should be the one to change… change something anyway. Get out of the way of the game once and for all. Do something different. Get a nine-to-five job somewhere, settle down with a nice Riley-type and have a couple of kids that she could pass her Mom's turkey recipe onto. Or travel the world with a backpack. Ride the Orient Express, work on a yak farm in Asia, live in Italy for a year… The possibilities were endless…if Faith couldn't change.

Buffy sat back on the stool a little more, sipping from her tankard, letting her eyes drift across the room as she contemplated a life without Faith after spending the last six months building a life with Faith in her mind.

"Look, I'm sorry," Willow said without sounding it. "I'm just freaking out a little here." She lowered her voice. "I have a chaotic-nerve spell inside me and I keep teleporting through time and space every time I sneeze! How would you feel?"

"A little grateful that my friends came along for the ride?" Xander sniped.

"I am grateful, but let's not forget you didn't come along willingly."

"Hey, we all saw your sneeze brewing. I could have let go in your bedroom but I didn't."

"Let's all just calm down," Giles said. "Obviously all of our nerves are running high but bickering won't help. We need to…"

Buffy nearly fell of the back of her stool when the profile of a man on the other side of the room caught her eye. "…_Oh my God_!"

"What is it?" Willow asked as they all tried to see what she was seeing.

The angle was wrong for them though so she was left staring in shock alone. It couldn't be, it was too weird. She willed the well-built man to turn towards her but he was too busy… carousing was probably the technical term… with his drunken buddies.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, Buff," Xander said, craning his neck to see.

She would have laughed at that if it had filtered through her shock enough. Definitely not a ghost. Definitely flesh and blood and breath and… a heartbeat? This was too weird!

"Buffy?" Giles asked with concern.

"Angel," she replied, her voice sounding faraway.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Oh my God, she's right!" Willow said as the man turned towards them to catch a buxom waitress around the waist.

"No its not," Xander said. "Angel, for all his many many faults, is cleaner than that! And his hair is all sticky up at the front not long and messy."

"You look at him and tell me that's not Angel," Buffy said with a good attempt at calm.

"I just did." When Buffy glared at him he shrugged. "I'm not saying the resemblance isn't freak-worthy, but how can it be?"

Buffy shrugged, staring at her possible-ex again. He was pulling the wench onto his lap. She tried to struggle away, squealing with laughter when he wouldn't let her. Buffy frowned.

"Perhaps a descendant," Willow suggested.

Buffy shook her head. "I never knew Angel's exact date of birth, and I don't know what year this is either for that matter, but I do know that's either the twin brother he never told he had, or…" she took a deep, disbelieving breath. "…It's him."

"How can you be sure?" Giles asked curiously.

"He's the love of my life!" Seeing all eyes turn to her, she corrected herself. "Was, whatever! The point is I'd know him anywhere – three hundred years notwithstanding. Uh, and if you could all not tell Faith that, that would be good," she added in a quiet rush.

"He's not acting very Angel-y right now," Willow said, waving a hand to where Angel was now dry humping the struggling wench he was hanging onto.

"Yeah, who knew becoming a vampire would actually make him more of a gentleman," Xander added.

Across the room Angel raised a tankard to his mouth, gulping down its contents. The bouncing around he was doing made most of it pour over his face and the waitress finally managed to wriggle away. She wasn't finding it so funny now and once on her feet turned and slapped him across the face, sending his tankard flying.

"What do I do, Giles?" Buffy asked.

"Not a thing," he replied sternly. "To interact with a figure from our past may alter future events drastically. Engaging with Angel at this time may change his path in any number of ways. We can't risk that."

"Maybe we can change it in a good way," Willow said.

"Like telling him to avoid any mysterious blonde girls named Darla?" Buffy said. "We could save him from being turned into a Vampire?"

"We probably could," Giles said. "But if we did that he would be dead long before you met him."

Buffy frowned but Xander spoke before she could, sounding far too enthusiastic.

"Yeah, but if we could save him from being killed. Surely that's of the good. I mean, isn't that what we do? Save people from Vampires."

"Xander," Willow began. "Think of all the times Angel saved us. Without him we would have died in Marcie's gas leak, or you might never have found Buffy in time to give her CPR, or Faith's fake Watcher might have fried me with her scary glove-thing!"

"Yeah, but think about all the people who wouldn't have died when Buffy made him lose his soul!"

Buffy would have snapped back at that if she hadn't been too busy thinking: No Angelus meant no Drusilla, no Spike… her whole life after arriving in Sunnydale would have been completely different. Maybe worse, but… maybe better? No heartache from losing the love of her life to an evil, soulless monster, with the added bonus of no lifelong hang-ups about sleeping with the people she loved. That would certainly come in useful right now. Perhaps, even, with no Angel on the scene she would have realised how she felt about Faith right from the start. Faith might never have gone bad – saving her from a life full of hang-ups too. And it wasn't as if she'd be killing him, the opposite in fact, and she'd be saving him from the pain and regret he lived with every day now.

Could she imagine a life without Angel in it, though? Was she really prepared to choose a possible past with Faith over her actual past with Angel? Faith had been anti-relationship right from the start; would she have changed if Buffy had been into her back then? Could she change?

"Jenny might still be alive," Xander was saying.

Buffy caught Giles' hurt expression and despite being mad at Xander his words, they added a little cement to her currently shaky thoughts.

Willow was on a whole different thing though. "How can you say that? Just because you never liked Angel doesn't mean you can just use Jenny's name in vain like that!"

"It wasn't in vain!" Xander said. "It's a valid point!"

"Yeah, but what's the point of Jenny being alive if the rest of us are dead!" Willow turned quickly to Giles. "I didn't mean that the way it came out."

"I understand. I think it would be best if we all got up and left now before this conversation goes any further," Giles said, his voice tight.

Buffy wasn't so sure. About anything right now. Angel had stood up and chased the serving wench, making a grr-ing sound his drunk self probably thought was hilarious. He only went a few steps though before giving up and falling back on his stool, laughing uproariously as he stole someone else's tankard. As he lifted it to his mouth, he turned slightly and his eyes met Buffy's.

"Oh shit," she said, too quietly for the others to hear her.

If she had been in any doubt before she wasn't now. His eyes were definitely _his _eyes. He dropped the tankard back onto the table and leered at her.

_Look away, look away, look away!_

She didn't. "Will, now would be a really good time to sneeze."

"Why? Oh. Oh!"

Angel was standing up again, wiping his face off on his poufy sleeve. If she ever saw him again in the future she was so going to make fun of his dress sense.

If? She definitely would… unless? Was she really contemplating this?

"Oh crap!" Xander saw him making his way over. "Are we one hundred percent sure he's not a vampire yet? Because we probably look pretty fresh and tasty compared to everyone else."

"We're sure. Look at the colour in his cheeks," Giles said and pushed his tankard away from him. "I think now would be a good time to go. We are not achieving anything in here anyway."

"Maybe we are," Xander countered, catching sight of Buffy's expression.

So did Willow. "Buffy, no! You love him, remember?"

"If I love him, wouldn't I want to save him from a life of torment? Wouldn't I want to remember _not _sending him to hell?"

"You'll still remember it," Giles said hurriedly. "But when we eventually return home everything will be completely different. Completely, Buffy! We may not even have a home. We may have been dead for six years!"

"I've come back from the dead before," she said, eyes on Angel who was almost at their table now. "I can show you guys how it goes."

"Buffy!" Giles snapped.

"Please?" Willow begged.

"Too late," Xander said, and he actually sounded scared now of what he might have set in motion.

Buffy didn't have time to answer any of them as Angel fell onto the stool next to hers and leaned close, nearly crushing her with his scent. Her nose wrinkled and she did her best not to gag. _Ye gods! _Dirty sweat, charred meat and stale ale assaulted her senses and the next time she saw him, if she saw him, it wasn't going to be his clothes she made fun of after all.

"Hello," she managed, leaning back a little.

"Ello, and ain't you just a pretty young thing, now."

"Am I? Thanks." She leaned back further.

He leaned closer. "To be sure. Saw yer looking at me from other dare. So I thought I'd come an' interduce meself."

"Oh, that's nice."

"Glad yer t'ink so. Me name's Liam. What's yers?"

"Bu…Um… Joan."

"Joan? Well, dat be a nice name now. Can I buys yer a drink, Joan?"

"Uh…?"

"Bu… Joan, we have to leave!" Giles snapped.

"Now hang on justa minute, gran'pa," Angel, or Liam, said genially. "Yer got yerself a fine young lass dare." He waved a hand at Willow. "Let's not be greedy now."

"Now look here," Giles began to stand.

Xander pulled him back down as Buffy said, "Its okay, Giles."

"See, Goiles, Joan says it's okay. So how about dat drink?"

"Maybe we could talk first?" Buffy said, ignoring Giles warning glare and still not entirely sure she was going to go through with this anyway.

True, she would be doing the world at large a huge favour by not letting it suffer through Angelus, but did she really want her last memory of Angel to be of his all-consuming stench? Seriously, it was making her eyes water!

He smiled in what he probably thought was a benevolent way and said, "Sure, I like lasses with a bit of a mind to them."

She returned a grimacy smile and… nearly took a deep breath but remembered not to just in time… and began. "I'm not sure how to explain this but at some point in the next few days or weeks or… or months… or maybe years… uh…"

"Yer not makin' a whole lotta sense dare, Joan," he said laughing.

"I know, but, this is important…" she paused, doubting she could go through with it after all.

She tried to steel herself, thinking about how much better this would be for him and so many other people even if she wasn't one of them. She thought of Jenny. She thought about Spike and the sweet person he had probably been before he had been vamped. The sweet person Angel had told her Drusilla had been before he made her crazy. Of all the lives he'd destroyed. She thought about how much simpler, how much better things could be between her and Faith right now if he had never been in the picture.

She thought of all that, but she couldn't help thinking about their first kiss too, or okay, their second kiss had been better, and all their kisses after that. Of all the times Angel had held her when she'd been scared of her calling, of all the times he'd held her just for the sake of holding her. She thought of all the good times they'd had and wondered if it was really fair to rob him of those as well as herself. Lastly she thought of Giles' warning of messing with the past and the possible dire consequences it could have.

She thought about all of that and still didn't know what was the best thing to do.

"Well, Joan, what was it you were wantin' to be sayin'?" Angel put his arm around her possessively, releasing strong waves of his overpowering smell into the atmosphere.

"Um, just that..." she had to stop talking to gag suddenly as his odour hit the back of her throat. "Oh God!"

"Yeuck," Willow said, getting hit with it too, her nose wrinkled and then she gasped and then, urgently, she yelled, "Hold on!"

"Huh?" Buffy asked, turning to her. Seeing the other two grab suddenly at Willow's arm and shoulder, she said, "Oh shit! Sorry, Angel!" and grabbed onto her best friend's wrist.

"No ones ever called me an angel before," Angel said, amused by her antics.

"They will," Buffy promised, and then smushed her ear to his smelly smock-shirt.

She heard three beats of his heart before Willow sneezed.

* * *

Faith was in the kitchen, frowning around at the mess when she heard someone in the doorway. She looked up, hoping it was Buffy, but it was just Kennedy so she went back to frowning.

Kennedy stopped on the threshold, holding the swing door open; hesitating about coming in when she saw only Faith was in the kitchen. Then she kicked herself for showing weakness and let the door swing shut behind her.

"Buffy's not one for clearing up after herself then."

"That makes two of you," Faith jibed but there was no real feeling in it.

"I wasn't going to grab a mop after you'd just beaten me to a pulp," Kennedy started to argue.

Faith held a hand up. "Can it, we might have bigger problems."

Concerned by her tone, Kennedy surveyed the mess properly, seeing just how bad it was. "Did a demon do this?"

"Don't think so. It was nearly this bad before I went patrolling last night, but…" Faith turned around on the spot. "…even if B did get away with leaving it like this Giles probably woulda cleaned it up."

"Nearly this bad?" Kennedy went to set some coffee going seeing as no one else had bothered to yet. "So Buffy came in and made it worse overnight?"

"Doubt it, unless she deliberately dropped the pie dish on the floor and spread the crumbs all over the place."

Kennedy frowned for a second and then rolled her eyes. "The pixies."

"What?"

"The pixies must have been on a food raid over night."

Faith frowned at her now. "Any part of that sentence supposed to make actual sense?"

Kennedy gave her an impatient look before realising Faith really didn't know what she was talking about. How could she not know about their housemates? True the little purple menaces had been making themselves scarce since the night they'd attacked – even Kennedy had only caught the occasional glimpse of them as they darted from here to there like mauve mice – and it was unlikely Faith went anywhere near the woodshed, but still she'd been there a couple of months now.

Faith was still looking at her quizzically, but she wasn't in the mood to enlighten her.

"Ask Buffy," she said instead.

"I would if I could find her."

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon. I waited for her last night for hours but she never showed."

"Never showed once in the kitchen she's frantically trying to prepare a Thanksgiving meal in?"

"Not while I was here. And she's not here now, obviously, when you'd think she'd be going into meltdown mode clearing this shit up so she can start all over again."

"That's weird," Kennedy admitted. "Or maybe she's just a flaky chef."

Faith shrugged. "Well, if so she picked a hell of a day to flake."

"Maybe she's just still in bed. All the cooking yesterday wore her out."

"Maybe." Faith started for the stairs. "I'll go check her room." As Kennedy followed her, she turned on the first step. "I don't need a chaperone."

"I think Willow might have slept in there too."

"And seeing as those two are hardly speaking, why would you think that?"

"Because I don't think she slept in our room… her room." As Faith raised an eyebrow, she added, "Because I accidentally slept in there."

"Accidentally, right." Faith gave her a grin that was more big bad wolf than camaraderie but said nothing else as Kennedy followed her up the stairs.

She knocked once but when she got no answer she pushed the door open without bothering to try again. She was barging in because she had a legitimate concern. If that meant she caught B in her undies? Well, she could always apologise later.

She didn't because there was no one in there. Kennedy followed her in to make sure Willow wasn't hiding in the corner. The bed didn't even look like it had been slept in but Buffy could have made it before she left.

"Sure Will ain't in her room?"

"I think I'd have seen her if she was."

Faith loitered in Buffy's room for no good reason but to look around, and subtly sniff lingering traces of Buffy's perfume out of the air. "Thought she was sick?"

"They did a spell to cure her last night. The herbs and stuff are still all over the bed."

"Think it worked?"

"Well, I assumed that's why she wasn't there."

"Let's go ask Xander."

She knocked on his door but barged in this time without even giving him a chance to answer. He wasn't there anyway. His bed was messy but then without Andrew here to make it, it often looked like that.

"Maybe he started work already," Kennedy said.

Faith glanced at the alarm clock on his chest of drawers. It was a little early for that. Plus, he'd told Faith he was going to Barnies last night and that usually meant he slept in until his alarm clock couldn't take being snoozed anymore.

"Maybe," she said, leaving the room. "But he said we weren't working today 'cause of Thanksgiving."

"So maybe he just wanted to finish something before he took the rest of the day off."

"Maybe," Faith said again. "Let's try Giles."

Downstairs in the living room, Faith rapped on the door to Giles' bedroom. This time she did wait for an answer, not wanting an eyeful of the Watcher in his undies, not because she didn't think he probably still looked good in them, she just didn't need that kinda awkwardness.

After knocking three times and getting nothing, she opened the door and poked her head around it. Seeing no one in the bed she went in.

"Giles isn't here either," Kennedy stated the obvious.

"Try his office."

Kennedy went next door and he wasn't there either. She looked at the mess of books and papers over the desk, seeking a clue to where everyone might be. It was all about Willow's illness as far as she could tell. A lot of stuff about the ritual he'd been planning last night and a list with accompanying notes about possible magick practitioners in the area that could help. She recognised the name of a witch Willow had talked about that lived down by the lake and the wizard guy from Wooster. The others she'd never heard of.

Faith stuck her head in the door. "Well?"

"Does it look like he's here?"

Faith bit back her retort, making a big effort not to start bickering and a heavy sigh was the result. "Anything useful I meant?"

"Possibly." Kennedy picked up the notebook with the list in it and left the office.

Back in the kitchen, Faith fixed herself a cup of coffee while Kennedy read over the list again.

"What if Giles couldn't cure it himself so they went to one of these guys?"

"Makes sense why they weren't here last night. Doesn't explain why they're not back yet though."

"Maybe it's taking a long time. Giles never bothered telling me the details."

Faith looked over, sensing the bitterness in Kennedy's voice. She could relate to that feeling when it came to the Scoobs. She made her a cup of coffee too and brought it over to the table.

"You believe that?" she asked.

"I can't think of another reason why they all wouldn't be here."

"Unless they did cure Red and they all went out partying to celebrate without bothering to tell us," Faith said only half joking, as she sat down.

"I wouldn't put it past them." Seeing Faith's curious look Kennedy forced a smile as she sat down too. "Which is cool. After all, they are all bonded tighter than most blood-relatives."

"I know. It's annoying." It was Kennedy's turn to look curiously at Faith, and she hurriedly added with a wave of her hand, "But, ya know, cool for them I guess."

They both sighed, slumping down in their chairs as they sipped from their coffees.

After a while, Kennedy said, "So we should just wait for them."

Faith nodded. "Yeah, they're either gonna come through that door all happy that Will is cured, and then we get to celebrate with them. Or they're gonna come through it as hung over as hell and then we get to rightfully bitch at them for forgetting us. It's win win."

They slumped further in the chairs as another silence stretched on.

"Want some breakfast?" Faith asked eventually.

"Yeah."

Faith pushed one of the dishes of practise food towards her and grabbed another for herself. Seeing Faith start eating with her fingers, Kennedy gave a shrug and did the same.

After a few mouthfuls she stopped. "Wait. Maybe we should save some of this for dinner. Just in case Buffy isn't back in time to cook."

Faith swallowed irritably and pushed her dish away. "Okay, this is worse than prison! At least I knew in there the yam burgers and lumpy mash potatoes were a done deal!"

Kennedy started laughing.


	14. Act 3:4

Hi, all. As this is a Thanksgiving-based episode I was really hoping to have it finished by now... yeah, that didn't happen :) Act three is almost done though. Thanks for the reviews for the last segment and, as always, feedback/concrit is always welcome.

* * *

"I can't believe you nearly did that!" Willow snapped as they winked back into existence.

She wrenched her arm from Buffy's grip so there would be no doubt who she was mad at.

"I can't believe I nearly did that," Buffy agreed, she was shaking more than a little with unspent adrenaline.

She sounded shell-shocked, which gave Willow a moments pause, but only a moment.

"You could have altered the course of history!"

"That's what I was planning to do."

"Not just Angel's! Everyone's!"

"I know that, and again, that was the plan. Our lives would have been completely different if I'd never met Angel."

"Not just ours! Everyone's!" Willow stressed again. "Every life he touched…"

"Every life he took away, you mean," Xander said, straightening up again.

He'd been resting with hands on his knees for a couple of seconds, breathing funny. So had Giles, she realised now. The teleporting was taking its toll on them. It was rough on her and she was used to it, or she used to be used to it when she was evil. Buffy was faring better because of her slayer stamina but Xander and Giles had no such barrier against the yucky feelings that came from zipping through time and space as quickly as walking through a door.

"Either way," she snapped. "Every life he changed, changed someone else's, who changed someone else's and so on. To stop Angel from becoming Angelus could have meant radical, unthinkable changes by the time it got us our lifetimes."

"Willow," Giles said quietly. "Buffy was only acting as she should have done, as the Slayer."

Buffy groaned, "That makes it sound worse!"

"No it doesn't," Xander promised her and Giles nodded solemnly.

Willow huffed, realising she was outnumbered three to one and stormed off ahead into… into some place she had no clue about. Where she was, when she was or even, with the magick coursing through her, entirely sure what she was anymore.

With this in mind she slowed down a little as she looked around.

There was a quaint little hamlet just down the road from them. Just a handful of thatched wooden cottages, that were all more thatch than actual cottage. Thick wood smoke rose from every roof, making the air fragrant. It looked kind of like Pleasant Creek except for the scenery was all wrong. High mountains surrounded the green valley and even though the sun was just rising brightly over the top of them, the air felt fresher somehow than it did in Cleveland.

"Where do you think we are?" she heard Buffy ask the other two.

"I'm not sure yet," Giles said.

"Mountains. Forests. Elks… Oregon?" Xander guessed.

"I don't think so," Giles said as Willow turned her head to get a look at the Elk.

It was standing a way off. Tall, proud and antler-y. It was magnificent and brought a smile to her face despite the irritation she was feeling. It disappeared into the trees at a panicked run as they entered the hamlet.

She only walked a few more steps before Willow realised why. Everyone in the hamlet was in a state of panic. There was screaming, crying, yelling. People were running all over the place in that way that suggested they were more concerned with running away than where they were running to. Other people were running in a more organised fashion, carrying pitchforks.

Willow stopped, trying to get a clue as to what was happening, and a viciously thrown sourdough bun ricocheted off the side of her head.

"Ow!" she squealed, cringing and rubbing her stinging ear, giving the others time to catch up and surround her protectively.

"What happened?" Xander asked.

"Someone threw something at me!"

"What the hell is happening?" Buffy asked, staring around in surprise, her own inner-turmoil forgotten for the time being. "It all looked so peaceful from back there."

"I think something's attacking the village," Giles said.

"But what?" Xander demanded.

Willow's eyes went wide as she spotted the big, red-bearded creature rampaging through the villagers, paying no mind to even the sharpest of projectiles lobbed at it.

"That!" she yelled, pointing.

They all turned.

"Troll!" Buffy yelled.

"Olaf!" Xander yelled.

The troll stopped his apparently mindless running about and stared directly at them.

"Oh crap! I wasn't trying to get his attention!"

"Shoulda thought about that before yelling his name!" Buffy shouted, smacking his shoulder.

"Who's Olaf?" Giles asked.

"Him!" Willow pointed again.

"But how do you know…?"

Olaf the Troll was now running lumberingly towards them, grinning, as if they were his best friends and he wanted to give them a big ol' cinematic troll-hug.

"Run now, explain later?" Willow squeaked.

"Yeah, that way, over there." Buffy grabbed her arm and Xander's and just ran. "Come on!"

* * *

Faith was playing flick the pecan nut into the empty foil dish with a spoon. She had started out with it at the other end of the table but had scored every time. Since then she had moved to the other end of the table and the dish was now on the breakfast counter. She had missed the first shot by a hairs breadth and was just lining up her second.

It hit the inside of the foil with a ping followed by a crackle as it rolled around the dish.

She said a quiet "Ha!" under her breath. "Sure you don't wanna go?" she asked as another nut hit dead centre. "We could bet on it."

"No." Kennedy was playing solitaire with the cards again.

"Wanna play Blackjack then?" Faith asked, indicating the cards. "For money?"

"No," Kennedy said again. "Why are you suddenly acting like we're friends?"

"I'm not," Faith got up to move the foil dish further away. "I'm just booored!"

"Me too," Kennedy admitted, throwing the cards on the table and stretching. "What's taking them so long?!"

"Maybe they can't cure her."

"Don't say that!"

"Yet, I mean. Maybe it's just taking a real long time."

Faith sat back down at the table and aimed her spoon towards the draining board. A hand grabbed her ankle, making her jump and throwing her aim off. The pecan rattled in the sink.

She stuck her head under the table. "Hey! Gimme a little warning next time! Now, shoo!" The hand didn't go away. "Do I look like your mommy? Get out of here."

"She's missing Andrew," Kennedy said.

Faith changed tack. "Do I look like your daddy? Let me go."

Goorzar hiccupped at her and cuddled up to her leg. Faith accepted defeat and straightened back up.

"Fine, but you drool on me and I'm making myself a demon fur coat."

"You'll have to go through me first," Kennedy told her.

"Wouldn't be hard."

"Do you think we should try calling the numbers on the list? Find out where they are?"

"Is there numbers on the list?" Faith grinned as her nut hit the target again.

"No, but I know the wizard's number is in Willow's phone book."

"Then try it." Faith shrugged. "Even if they're not there, he might know where they are."

Kennedy got up and went to Willow's magick room. She tried the door but it wouldn't open.

"It's locked."

"So, you're a Slayer. Give it a good push."

"I can't break in!"

"A little breaking and entering don't hurt if it's for the greater good."

"Then you do it. You're the criminal."

"Ex-criminal," Faith said without bothering to look at her. "And I have your demon attached to my leg."

Kennedy came around the other side of the table and called Goorzar out.

Faith sighed, "Fine."

She tried the handle first, then keeping it twisted she bumped her hip against the wood. The door sprang open without the lock even snapping.

"There ya go."

It was embarrassing to be a pro at this kinda thing around here sometimes, but right now it was just funny. She sat back down at the table, smirked at the disgruntled younger slayer and gave her thighs a couple of encouraging slaps. Goorzar leapt from Kennedy's arms straight onto Faith's lap with some deep, satisfied hiccups. Faith grinned. That had been a pure gamble – it wasn't like she'd had much to do with the demon kid – but it had paid off and the look on Kennedy's face was priceless.

Kennedy stood up, brushed off her knees and then held her arms out. "Goorzie."

Goorzar gibbered excitedly and held one of her own stringy, hairy arms out but didn't attempt to move from Faith's lap. Kennedy sniffed unaffectedly, took Goorzar's hand in her own and squeezed it lightly.

Dropping a kiss onto her hairy head, she said, "Okay, stay here with Auntie Faith. I'll be back in a minute."

"Atie Fathe," Goorzar repeated, making Faith grin, before the baby demon threw herself backwards in sheer glee and head butted her in the face.

"Ow!"

It was Kennedy's turn to grin. "I won't be long. If her address book is anywhere I can find it, I'll find it quick."

Faith was rubbing her nose. "Yeah, whatever."

"Are you sure you can handle her for five minutes?"

"Of course I freakin' can!" Faith shooed her away as she wrapped her other arm around Goorzar's tummy. "You love me, right girl?"

Goorzar hiccupped. "Atie Fathe, gurl."

Satisfied with that, Kennedy headed for the Magick room.

When Goorzar almost immediately started to squirm in her arms, Faith picked up a handful of pecan nuts and showed them to her as a distraction. Goorzar stopped struggling and stared at them like a dog at a bone.

"You want one?" Faith asked.

The demon just kept staring so she figured that was a yes. She held one up between finger and thumb and Goorzar swooped her head down and took it between her teeth, nearly taking Faith's fingertips with it.

"Hey! Where's your manners?" Faith rubbed her fingers and thumb together to rid them of the almost snapped up feeling.

Goorzar crunched the nut once before swallowing it and then looked bashful, giving her the cute, old demon eyes. Cute and demon, not two things she'd ever thought of in the same sentence before. Questioning her sanity, Faith held another nut up.

Goorzar leaned down slowly this time and in an effort to take the nut more gently her lips covered Faith's fingers down to the first knuckle before her teeth got a grip on it. Faith looked at her hand afterwards. It was dripping with demon saliva.

She pulled a face. "Okay, better, but ya still covered me in drool!"

Goorzar gave her that look again and Faith rolled her eyes, wiping her hand on her jeans.

"Okay, one more go, but if this one pans too you're not getting any more of my nuts."

She held up a pecan. Goorzar stared at it solemnly and Faith waited with a grimace for the gross feel of demon lips against her skin again. Then the baby demon reached up a hairy hand and plucked the nut from Faith's fingers and popped it into her mouth. The masticated nut was very visible as the demon chewed and grinned at the same time.

"You were playing me!" Faith said, not sure whether to be pissed off or impressed. Goorzar hiccupped. "You little… demon!"

"Everything okay out there?" Kennedy called.

"Yeah. She's allowed nuts right?"

"We haven't found anything that upsets her stomach yet," Kennedy called. "Except marshmallows. Don't give her marshmallows."

"I don't have any marshmallows," Faith called back. "Find anything?"

"No, still looking."

"That's not quick!"

"Bite me."

Faith chuckled and called back mockingly, "No need to be rude. How long ya gonna be?"

"Don't know. Why? Is Goorzie making you her bitch?"

"Nah, me and Goorzie are cool," she taunted. "She just told me she wishes I was her mommy."

"Bite me," Kennedy said again, slightly muffled this time as if her head was deep in a cupboard or up her own ass.

Faith smirked and held another nut up for Goorzar who took it gently between her fingertips again and put it in her mouth.

There was a rap at the back door. Faith called out "Yeah." more interested in the way Goorzar had stiffened from head to haunches on her lap.

The door opened and Oz came in. "Hey."

The nut blew out of Goorzar's mouth like an express train leaving a tunnel, hit the cupboards on the other side of the kitchen and then landed with a ping in the foil pie tray on the draining board.

Faith started to smile until the second part of the performance kicked in. Agitated bouncing at first, followed quickly by jumping up and down on her lap, over-excited squeals – and not happy ones – nearly deafening her.

"What the hell?" She tried to contain the demon on her lap but it was getting harder by the second.

"Is something wrong?" Oz asked, coming further into the kitchen.

"I dunno."

As she tried to grab Goorzar around the middle to physically restrain her, the baby demon twisted in her arms, paws flailing as she screeched, nearly knocking Faith out. She kept hold of her even as her head was slammed backwards by an accidental punch but she was sure as hell feeling less like she wanted to. What the hell was wrong with the fricken demon? Surely she couldn't hate Oz that much?

As Goorzar clawed at her shoulder, trying to climb over it and away, she became aware of a whining, grunting, yelping noise over the top of the demon's freak-out. She looked at Oz in surprise, half-expecting him to be wolfed, but no, he was still Oz-shaped.

Hearing the commotion, Kennedy came running out of the Magick room. She stopped just inside the kitchen and assessed the situation immediately.

"Get it out!"

"Willow invited me," Oz said calmly.

"Not you, asshole! Get _it _out!" She shouted again as she ran the few steps to Faith's chair. "In the garden, anywhere, just get it out of here!"

"What the hell?" Faith asked, not understanding anything until Goorzar finally, painfully, leapt from her to Kennedy's waiting arms and she was able to look around.

She only caught a glimpse of the big, shaggy dog hiding behind Oz's legs but as the dude half dragged, half pushed him out the back door it was pretty obvious the mutt had caused all of this.

"Jeez," Faith breathed, sitting back in her chair.

"I thought you said you could handle her!" Kennedy snapped.

"I was handling her! I didn't even see the damn dog until you came in!"

"That's just great then!" Kennedy held the demon tighter and rubbed her face against the side of her head, crooning to her. "You're okay, baby. It's just a dog. Dogs are harmless. You could kill a dog with your bare hands anyway."

Faith's eyebrows rose but she didn't comment. She waited until Kennedy had whispered to the demon for a few more minutes before asking,

"What are we gonna do about Oz?"

"He's fine out there. He can come in when Willow gets back."

Faith raised just one eyebrow this time as she realised Kennedy was completely seriously.

* * *

Buffy was first, followed by Giles, then Willow and Xander was bringing up the rear as they ran around and in between some more of the wooden hovels. Was hovels the right word? Or was that like really un-PC. He gave a high giggle to himself. People were chucking food at a troll! Sensible sure, but pelting the outsider wasn't going to win any politically correct awards back in two-thousand and three.

Then again Olaf was chasing _them_, so the more stuff the other people threw at him to slow him down the better in Xander's book. And while he was on the subject, why was he at the back anyway? What was Buffy doing all the way up the front when the danger was right behind him?

He'd already fainted twice tonight though and was only hanging on to his manliness by the skin of his teeth, so he would just suck it up, keep his position and wait for the moment that troll hammer hit his head so hard he ended up to his neck in the ground.

"So we are in the Land of the Trolls?" Giles was trying to get an explanation from Buffy as they scurried from building to building.

"I guess so."

"Interesting."

"That's one word for it," Xander muttered under his breath.

"But if we're in the Land of the Trolls," Willow began. "What are all these humans doing here?"

"You got me," Buffy called back. "Maybe if we don't get hammered first we can ask them."

Xander was suddenly wondering about something way more concerning. If this was the Land of the Trolls, where were all the other Trolls? Close by? Maybe descending on the village right this minute. Olaf they could probably duck and dodge for as long as it took for Willow to sneeze, but if two or three of his buddies came around the corner, they were gonna end up four dead Billy goats in no time.

They ran through the centre of the village again, passing by stone fire pits and racks of skinned rabbits and other less identifiable small creatures hanging like clothes on a washing line.

Xander took a look over his shoulder and saw Olaf had stopped chasing them, halted by a heavy barrage of potatoes.

"They've got him on the ropes," he called so the others could hear him. "I say we head for the hills while he's distracted."

"Okay, this way." Buffy cut right, across the clearing to the houses on the other side, heading for the mountains.

The rest of them ran full pelt after her. Hoping to get out of Olaf's sight before he was free to chase them again. From one of the buildings wafted a smell that called, these days at least, to Xander's hindbrain in the way most people responded to the smell of freshly baked bread.

"Ooh, a bar." He stopped running. "Hey, guys, maybe we should hide in here?" Close behind him Olaf roaring in Trollish spoke to his hindbrain way louder than the scent of mead and roast meat ever could. "Or we could just keep running!"

They cleared the buildings for the open land beyond and Buffy pulled each of them behind one of the wooden houses while she took a second to take stock of the situation.

"We can't just keep running," she explained. "We'll end up lost for one thing. We need to do something."

"We're already lost," Xander panted, leaning back against the side of the house. "And I think the thing we _need_ to do is keep running."

"But there are people here."

"People and trolls! I'll take somewhere that has no people over somewhere that has people _and_ trollsany day."

"Could you just man-up for five seconds," she snapped.

"Would you man-down!" he snapped back. "You've been acting crazy all night. Wanting to beat up cavemen and slay vampires and save Angel from becoming a vampire…"

"You thought that was a good idea too!"

"I know but _I _don't like him! You do. So why were you prepared to risk destroying the fabric of reality when it would mean you never seeing him again, or ever meeting him in the first place?"

"You said yourself," she said coldly. "It's what I do. It used to be what you did as well. Or have you forgotten that?"

"Things change. Some of us grew up."

"Grew up?!" Buffy gave a shocked little laugh and then pushed him backwards. "I'm the _Slayer_! I don't get to _grow up_! And from what I can see, you didn't grow up, you just grew scared!"

"Can you blame me?" he yelled. He hadn't meant to say that. He had meant to deny the accusation. "And just because I don't want to hang around pointlessly and wait for a troll to kill us, doesn't make me scared, it makes me the only sensible one here!"

His attempt at covering his slip felt flat even to his ears. The truth was out there now. He set his jaw, waiting angrily for the reassurances to come. They didn't. Giles offered him a tight smile but that was all. Willow didn't even appear to be paying attention.

Buffy stepped into his personal space, still as angry as he was. "You need to get over it. You're no good to _anyone_ like this."

"Don't you dare tell me…"

"Uh, guys, I know this isn't the best time," Willow piped up excitedly. "But I think that's D'Hoffryn over there." As they all turned to look up the slope ahead of them, she continued. "Maybe he can help us get home. He might even be able to cure me!"

"I'd say this was the perfect time, Willow," Giles said, casting reprimanding glances at Buffy and Xander as he motioned for them to follow.

They walked up the slope in a line. He was on the far left of Buffy, giving her a wide berth with childish hostility. The horned demon lord was talking with a girl and they were both oblivious to their approach.

Xander found himself staring at the girl. Her hair was long and dark, braided untidily around the top of her head. Her peasant dress was unremarkable and hung to her ankles. It was her eyes and mouth that held his attention though. She was so pretty. This was the first time since leaving Sunnydale that he had found a woman even remotely attractive on more than just an observational level. It felt weird.

'_Trust me to only be attracted to a girl from a demon dimension,' _he thought idly and then something rushed at him from very far away and hit him directly in the heart so hard that his legs stopped working and he fell to his knees.

"What's wrong now?" The speed with which Buffy was by his side and the hand on his shoulder belied her irritated words.

The other two stopped just ahead of them, turning back in confusion.

"Xander?" Willow asked, concerned.

"Anya," he whispered, his throat felt too tight to speak any louder.

"Look. You need to talk and we want to listen," Buffy said. "But it _has _to wait until we get home, okay?"

"No." He shook his head slightly and pointed with a shaky hand. "_Anya!_"

The other three turned to stare up the slope.

Giles was the first to speak, "Bloody hell!"

"This isn't the Land of the Trolls," Willow realised. "We just went back in time again."

"You mean this is where she…" Buffy lowered her voice as if Xander wouldn't be able to hear her. "…gets VD'd?" Giles gave her an odd look. "I mean, Vengeance Demon'd!"

"Of course." Giles began to clean his glasses with his handkerchief. "Well, as D'Hoffryn is here, I think that is quite likely."

"Crap." Xander was aware of Buffy glancing down at him. "Okay, Will, I know it's not good, but you're gonna have to risk a spell to get us out of here."

"Okay. Um. Let me just think for a sec."

"No, Willow," Giles said firmly. "It isn't safe."

"But…"

Hardly hearing them, Xander clambered back to his feet. "I have to go and talk to her."

"You can't!" Buffy grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking forward.

"I need to. I have to save her." He couldn't save her from dying on the Hellmouth before. Now he could.

"That's crazy troll logic!" Buffy got in his way.

"Well, we're in the right place for it."

"What did you just say to me about Angel?" she snapped.

"That was different." He walked around her.

Giles got in his way. "D'Hoffryn could very well kill you right here, Xander."

"I don't care." And he didn't. He felt more grounded, steadier, than he had in months.

Willow stepped in front of him, pressing hands to his chest. "Even if you could stop this, why would you want to? The happiest years of Anya's life were the ones she spent with you. She _told _me that. Depriving her of those just because you feel guilty isn't noble!"

Did that weird gurgling, sobbing sound come from him? It must have done, no one else looked on the verge of tears.

"Plus, you know, she kinda liked the first thousand years of exacting vengeance on men too," Buffy said brightly, "She might not appreciate having that taken away from her."

Xander made that noise again but it was at least a quarter chuckle that time.

"It would appear to be too late now anyway," Giles said as D'Hoffryn shimmered and then disappeared.

Xander hadn't taken his eye off of Anya yet and could now see the self-satisfied smile she was wearing. Oh, yeah, she was happy about something. That was her 'Someone-just-paid-the-ridiculous-mark-up-on-a-novelty-item-without-any-annoying-haggling' look.

She was a demon again. Or for the first time.

"Okay," he said quietly.

"Okay?" Willow smiled and took her hands off his chest.

"Yeah." He smiled back.

"Right." Buffy took charge again. "We're going this way."

She started to walk across the slope away from Anya. As the others followed her, Xander didn't.

"You guys go. I think I'm gonna stay here."

"What?" Willow exploded, running the few steps back to him. "You can't!"

"Sure I can. It's nice here." He waved his hand at the scenery as if that would sell his point. "And probably pretty peaceful when they're not in the middle of a troll attack."

They were all around him again now.

"No!" Buffy insisted. "You have to come with us."

"Why do I?"

"Because you don't belong here," Willow said. "You belong at home… with us!"

"Who says we're ever gonna get home anyway? And even if we do… I _don't _belong there. I'm _miserable_ there! You guys all know it. Jeez, you're on my case about it enough. Maybe what I need to 'get over it' is a change of scenery. Or…" staring up the slope he smiled wistfully. "… Anya."

"But we're your best friends," Willow all but wailed. "You can't just desert us."

"I've not exactly been feeling the love just recently," he said calmly. "And I know you all feel the same."

"That's because you're suffering from depression, Xander," Giles said slowly, firmly. "Which means you should not be making any serious decisions like, for example, moving permanently to a foreign country _twelve hundred years in the past_!"

Xander smiled again. "Not feeling all that depressed right now."

"Xander, stop being a moron!" Was all Buffy could think to say.

"And on that note…" He grinned at them. "Tell Dawnie goodbye from me, okay?" When nobody responded, her nodded. "Okay, see you guys."

He was really doing this he realised as he was walking around them and up the slope. He felt light-headed but he was in no doubt he was doing the right thing. He couldn't go on living at the camp for much longer feeling the way he was feeling. Not when he was alienating his friends a little more each day. He would have given in and moved away eventually anyway, he was sure, and at least this way he wouldn't be alone. He would be with Anya. He could turn a blind eye to her demon duties if he had too, after all, he had a blind eye going spare that wasn't any use for anything else. Or maybe she would even give it up to be with him. He would propose sooner rather than later and this time they would get married because that old client of hers wouldn't be around to fill his head with bad thoughts and mess everything up. They'd have a few children. He could teach them to build a fire pit and skin rabbits – once he'd learned himself anyway.

"Hi." He held out his hand.

"Hej. Vem hä du?" She looked at his hand suspiciously.

He retracted it self-consciously. Okay, language barrier, he should have anticipated that. It wasn't a big problem.

He pointed at himself. "Xander."

She nodded. "Aud."

"What?" he chuckled nervously, scratching the eye patch elastic over his ear. "So, I, uh, like your dress. Did you make it yourself?"

"Ursäkta?"

"Your dress," he repeated slowly and touched the material by her shoulder.

She stepped back, her eyes narrowing.

"No, I didn't mean…!" He pulled his hand back again. "Oh boy. So, do you, uh, live around here?"

Behind him a hurried, whispered conversation was taking place.

"But I won't be doing the magick," Willow said as Buffy pulled two thick handfuls of grass out of the ground and put them in Giles waiting hands. "You will be."

"Is that enough?" Buffy asked.

"Should be."

"I disagree with his decision as much as the both of you," Giles said. "But to take him without his consent…"

"He's obviously not thinking straight," Buffy said, grabbing another handful of grass just to be on the safe side. "And we can't help him get better if we're five thousand miles and a millennium away."

Giles nodded. "So I say the word and then throw the pollen directly into your face?"

"Yes. Don't forget to hold onto me before you throw the seed. And, Buffy, I'm gonna hook my arm around you like this." Willow demonstrated by wrapping her arm under Buffy's and curling it up to hold her shoulder. "All you have to do is grab Xander the second Giles throws the seed. Any earlier and he'll get suspicious and he might not give us a chance at another go."

"Alright." Buffy nodded. "Try not to dislocate my shoulder when we land."

Willow nodded. "I will. If you try not to break my arm."

"I will. Wait. Since when do you have hay fever?"

"I used to suffer every summer when I was little. I grew out of it but I'm hoping having the pollen go directly up my nose will trigger a retroactive reaction."

"Okay, are we ready?" Willow and Giles both nodded. "Then let's do it before Anya turns him into a frog, or worse."

"Uh, what could be worse?" Willow asked rhetorically as they prepared to charge up the slope.

"So, I think the troll has been caught now," Xander was saying, his voice taking on an anxious tinge as he tried desperately to find some way to connect with this Anya, who was really obviously his Anya in many ways, but in a whole lot of other ways, she wasn't. "I think I saw a bar down there. Can I buy you a drink?" He mimed raising a glass to his lips while smiling encouragingly.

She touched her own lips as if he was trying to tell her there was something on them, eyeing him suspiciously.

This was getting hopeless, so he went for broke. "You won't believe this, but we actually already know each other. We meet like a thousand years from now and fall in love. I was just really hoping we could skip those thousand years and fall in love now instead. What do you say?"

"Varför pratar ni rotvälska? Är du sjuk?"

"I'll take that as a yes." He smiled and gently tried to take her hand.

She struck him in the side of his head with her other hand and started rapidly telling him off in a language he still couldn't understand.

As he backed away with his hands up, trying to think of a way to placate her non-verbally, he heard Giles shout right behind him:

"Trocken!"

And then Buffy jumped on his back.

Willow said "Owie!" and then "Asblooshie!" Which he realised later was a sneeze.

_(More coming soon...)_


	15. Act 3:5

Wow, long delay. Sorry about that. This was supposed to be a quick episode but I guess it hasn't worked out that way. Anyway, there's one more segment of act 3 after this one and I'm hoping to get it posted by Christmas, but if not definitely New Year :)

* * *

Kennedy had finally calmed Goorzar down enough after Faith had disappeared out the back door. She was in the corner in her bed box, put there again now that she and Willow weren't sharing a room and Andrew was out of town. Goorzar had a tea towel over her head and was whimpering a little from beneath it. She was still squatting by the box, patting the tea towel and looking around at the mess of a kitchen when Faith came back in the door, dripping icy rain water, with Oz following behind. Goorzar stiffened and Kennedy gently held her head beneath the towel, although her own tension probably didn't reassure the demon.

"I thought I said…"

"Shut up, Kennedy. Dog's in the training barn for the time being but I ain't leaving Oz out there too just 'cause you have a problem." Faith went down to the cupboard under the stairs but spoke to Oz over her shoulder. "So that's all we know. They went out somewhere together last night and we ain't seen them since."

"That's… odd."

"Ya think," Kennedy muttered under her breath.

Faith came back up with a couple of clean towels and chucked one to Oz as she started drying off her hair with the other. They both moved to the other end of the kitchen.

"Yeah. Giles had this big spell idea to help Willow so we figure they've gone off to get some help with it seeing as our big witch can't do any mojo herself just now."

"That makes sense. Any idea who they've gone to?"

Faith started to shake her head but Kennedy stood up and spoke first.

"Faith just said we don't know where any of them are. In fact, Thanksgiving is probably cancelled so if you had a fall back invitation, you should probably accept it."

Faith rolled her eyes. "Thanksgiving ain't cancelled, it's just delayed." And then she pushed away from the counter, taking charge. "In fact as much as I hate all this domestic crap, we should probably start clearing this shit up to save B time when she gets back. You guys get on that, I'm gonna try their cell phones again, see if I get any better luck time."

Kennedy glared at the instructions but Faith was gone through the swing door before she could argue. So she started clearing plates and dishes from the table to set beside the sink and ran some hot water for washing up – Buffy hadn't left any clean dishware to use at all.

Oz helped her, ignoring her unfriendly glares. How had she ended up stuck in the kitchen alone with him? The day had started so optimistically but had gone serious downhill from there.

"Did you try calling her Wiccan friends?" Oz asked as he scraped some burnt remains from an oven dish into the garbage. "Someone else might know where they are."

"We don't have any numbers."

He nodded as he took the dish to the sink. "Did you look for Willow's address book?"

Kennedy slid the empty yam dish into the hot water and spun to him. "Of course I looked for her address book. I'm not stupid!"

He simply nodded again and started wiping down the table, catching the bit and pieces of ingredients in his palm. She squirted some detergent into the bowl and began to scrub the dirty dishes. After a minute the silence started getting to her – in the way that inside she was so on edge with his quiet presence that she wanted to smash the damn dishes instead of washing them.

It got so bad, she blurted, "I know you're into her."

Oz took his time answering; when he did his tone wasannoyingly casual. "Willow?"

"Of course Willow!"

"I've been _into her_ since the first moment I saw her."

"Me too!" She said it so harshly it didn't hold an ounce of the real emotion his admission had. "I love her!"

"Me too," he said softly.

And that's how her answer should have come out. She cursed herself silently, washing the dishes with more vigour than they really needed, sending bubbles up into the air.

"You had your chance."

"And you've had yours."

A plate broke in her hands underwater. She slid the two sides down either side of the bowl, hiding them, and continued to wash up.

"I'm not going to give up fighting for her," she warned him.

"Okay."

How could he be so infuriatingly calm? He sounded as if she'd vowed to fight for the TV remote, not the love of their lives! She spun to him again, spraying suds across the kitchen floor.

"I mean it. I'm not giving up. Willow and I belong together!"

He was wiping the breakfast counter now and only had to glance up to be facing her.

"Okay," he repeated. "I don't want to fight you, Kennedy. I'd rather let Willow make her decision and hope it goes in my favour but if you want to make things physical again I can't stop you."

Kennedy stepped closer, hands still dripping bubbles. "No, you can't."

Oz straightened up as if expecting an attack immediately. He was still only an inch or so taller than her but she knew if he let the wolf out of the box he'd grow a couple of feet and have claws as sharp as five razors attached to his hands and feet.

She licked her lips, feeling the slayer rise in her as her anger increased. It was stupid to fight him, she knew that on nearly every level, but on the slayer level it made perfect sense.

"I don't want to fight you either," she ground out. "But if you don't promise to back off from Willow _right now_ I will. And this time there won't be anyone around to stop us."

He had the audacity to give her a friendly smile. "I was winning last time anyway."

She took another step forward and saw him tense. "She belongs with me. She's just confused because you're around."

"So, maybe she's confused for a good reason."

"I don't think so."

Kennedy took another step forward and she saw the change in his eyes. Nowhere else yet, but the shape of his eyes had changed slightly and their colour was different. Not the sulphur yellow eyes of a vampire but a golden colour. They would actually be really pretty if you didn't know they belonged to a werewolf.

On the other side of the room, Goorzar's whimpering grew louder.

"Once I've changed," Oz's quiet tone was a quiet warning. "I only have so much control over my actions."

"I thought you were all domesticated now," Kennedy mocked him.

She took another step forward as she grabbed a long-tined fork from the side. She felt weird arming herself against Oz but when he armed himself her fork would look like a kiddie's toy.

"I'm… better, but I'm still a wolf."

"So back off!" she snapped, taking another step closer.

"No!" he growled, and it was actually a growl now. "Walk away, Kennedy." And that came out mostly as a growl too. "Now!"

"Not a chance."

She stepped closer again until she could actually see the hair follicles sprouting slowly on his face. She could see how hard he was trying to rein in his inner self but it wasn't going to work for much longer.

Faith suddenly swept back through the swing door, took one look at the situation and shouted, "Hey, you two, heel!"

* * *

The four of them landed in an ungainly heap together in the middle of someone's overgrown garden. Xander was the first to extricate himself angrily and scrambled away through the long grass. He sat with his back to them, his head in his hands.

Giles watched him a moment before moving himself. Crawling away from Buffy and Willow he tried to stand, but it was too much effort and so he slumped onto his side instead to recover.

There had been subtle signs that he was getting to old for this, for what – three years? It was one of the reasons why he had left Sunnydale in the first place. He would be Buffy's Watcher until the day he died, or the day she died, but active Watching was a strenuous job and most Watchers' didn't have their Slayer's come back from the dead once, much less twice. Not that he would want Buffy anything but alive obviously but trying to rebuild the Council with little constructive support from England was a hard enough job on its own without the added stress of teleporting all over history in a single night.

"Where are we?" Willow asked blearily.

She was looking decidedly greener. In fact almost the same shade as the grass stalks surrounding them. All of the teleporting was wearing her down, aggravating the bad magick already coursing through her. Much more of it and her own natural reserves would be depleted completely. Giles wasn't sure what would happen then. They might still continue to bounce around times and dimensions with Willow growing progressively worse until she died. Or, looking on the bright side, they might just stop teleporting altogether and be stuck in another time and place until something else killed them – he sighed as Buffy and Willow started bickering almost as soon as their eyes were open – or they killed each other.

"You had no right!" Xander suddenly shouted in a bitterly angry, tear-stricken voice.

Giles glanced at the girls but they both appeared too surprised to move so he took it upon himself to crawl on his hands and knees the six feet to Xander. "You didn't belong there, Xander. It wasn't your time or your place."

"It would've worked out," Xander sounded confident despite covering his face with his hands. "I'd have learned the language eventually. Anya would have come around."

Giles shook his head. "You would never have been happy there."

"I'm not happy now!" Xander raised his head to glare at him. "Don't you get that? At least there I had a chance at a fresh start."

"And no way of leaving when it did not work out."

"Oh, so you just assume I'd have failed there too, huh? Thanks a lot!"

"You haven't failed here!" Giles snapped, becoming exasperated with him as quickly as everyone else seemed to these days. He took a breath to rein his irritation in before he spoke again. "And you are only so determined to see everything negatively because you're simply not thinking straight! Look, Xander, I promise you, there are ways through this. You can be as happy again, with your f…" he stopped himself from saying family, "…friends as you were before, I assure you, but first we all need to concentrate on getting home."

"Um, guys," Willow called for their attention. "That might be easier than you think."

"Excuse me?"

"We are home," Buffy explained.

He looked around in surprise. They were right.

* * *

Startled by the interruption Kennedy automatically wheeled back a few steps. Oz turned to Faith, smiling at the command.

"For both your sakes I'm gonna forget what I just saw," Faith said, irritably. "And look what I found." She held up Buffy's cell phone. "Red's is in her room too. Guess they didn't want us phoning them."

"Why wouldn't they?" Oz asked.

Faith shrugged. "Three of them have been acting weird for weeks. So… here's a radical suggestion: let's get the hell out of here."

Kennedy dried her hands off on a tea towel. "What? Why?"

"'Cause they obvious did ditch us for whatever reason and I ain't hanging around here all day playing ref to you two."

"What's the alternative?" Oz asked.

"Goin' to Barnies for a few." Faith didn't wait for a discussion before going to fetch her coat.

"What if the others come home?" Kennedy asked.

"They'll call us. Or they won't."

She was kinda passed caring now. She had been looking forward to a big if probably weird day with Buffy; and Buffy had disappeared without even saying bye. So screw it. If she wasn't getting her big fancy dinner, she was gonna go have the next best thing – a bottle of Jack Daniel's and a beer for dessert. And at least she wouldn't have to make any kind of stupid sentimental effort down at the bar.

She threw Kennedy her coat, and as she caught it, the younger slayer said, "I don't know."

"What's not to know?" Faith shrugged into her coat. "Anyway I'm going. You two can stay here and kill each other, and then neither of you gets Willow, or you can come with. Your call."

Faith left through the back door. Kennedy and Oz shared an awkward, hostile glance before following.

* * *

The garden they were in was their very own back garden. From here he could see the back of the boy's dormitory and the large side of the training barn, and if he stretched his neck up to see over the tall grass and the unruly hedge he could see the house.

"We're in the training field." He looked around again, focusing a little closer to his face. "Xander, don't I pay you to keep these lawns short? I seem to remember a rather costly sit-on mower appearing on your credit card statement several months ago."

"And I use it, regularly!" Xander snapped, his stubborn tone turned weaker as he looked around at the long grass. "We have had a lot of rain recently…"

"It wasn't this long yesterday," Buffy backed him up. "I ran through here after patrol." she stood up and looked around. "And I don't remember that big hole being in the side of the house either."

"Big hole!" He and Xander said at the same time with equal worry as they all stood up to take a look.

It was fairly big, about six feet high and three or four across. It had been covered with strong, green garbage bags nailed to the wall of the house, the edges of which flapped in the breeze.

"Well, we did leave Faith and Kennedy alone together." Willow shrugged groggily, still making no attempt to stand. "They could easily be the cause of a big hole."

Xander shook his head. "It's not recent and the roof's sagging in places and the veranda's been torn through on that side."

"And there are at least three windows that I can see smashed." Giles added. Two were covered over with some kind of clear plastic and another downstairs – his bedroom? – was simply boarded up.

"Maybe Faith had a party while were gone." Seeing no one else smile with her, Buffy turned serious. "Okay, so right place, wrong time. Now how do we figure out what the time actually is? If we're only a couple of months out maybe we can just stay here and deal with it."

"What if we're in the past?" Willow asked. "Then there'll be two you's, two Giles', two Xander's and two me's wandering around here all at the same time!"

"Okay, Willow," Giles said as soothingly as possible. "Let's just deal with one problem at a time."

"Well, we've already moved here, so we can't be that far in the past," Xander said, pointing. "There's a curtain in the boy's dorm. and that's our truck."

The top of the large vehicle could just be seen over the hedge. Giles helped Willow up and they wandered through the gap to take a look. It was a lot dirtier than Xander usually allowed it get and there was a large dent and some scratched paint on the left fender.

"So, we know we have already moved in," Giles summarised, "And the house hasn't looked like that since we've been here, despite some of Goorzar's best efforts. So I conclude that we are in the future."

"It's cold, wintry even. Still a few leaves on the trees though." Buffy looked up, studying the quality of the light. "Probably gonna be dark in a few hours. I'd say late in the year, maybe November."

"I'd say today exactly, a year from now, or a year from where we should be anyway."

Giles looked over. "How can you be so precise?"

Xander closed the drivers' door of the truck. "Clock on the dashboard displays the date. And you guys thought I brought this truck just to enhance my manhood."

"Ah, very resourceful, Xander."

Xander didn't look as impressed as Giles sounded. He was staring up at the dilapidated house again. "Yeah, obviously not all my skills match up."

Giles looked up too as he mused, "This much damage in a year."

"Must have been a heavy year," said Buffy.

"Must have been a lazy year," Willow said, not quite glaring accusingly at Xander.

He had no problems glaring straight back at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well… well… how come the house is in such disrepair? Isn't it like your sole job to keep it _not _looking like this?"

"Maybe you're still wonky," he shot back. "Maybe you blew that hole in the wall last week with your magicks and blew up the veranda yesterday and… and crashed my truck trying to drive it with no hands!"

As Willow and Xander moved closer to each other, still yelling, Buffy stepped between them, pushing each one back a little.

"Okay, you two arguing? Getting boring."

"Like you can…" Willow began.

"Fine! All three of us arguing is getting way beyond boring and I'm sick of listening to it, and being a part of it. So if you can't get over it just shut up about it until we get home and can go our separate ways, okay?"

"Separate ways?" Willow asked in a small, worried voice.

"I just meant to our bedrooms or something, get some space for a little while." Buffy ran a hand through her hair as she quietly added. "But if we just can't all get along anymore then maybe we should… I don't know, stop trying, or take a break, or something."

They both stared at her in surprise and then Xander turned to Giles, waving his hand dismissively at Buffy.

"Yeah, these are the friends that are gonna remind me what a joy life is."

"Everyone's upset right now…"

That was all Giles managed before all three of them began arguing with each other again. He let them continue, they needed to get it out of their systems one way or another. While he rubbed his temples to stave off the headache they and the teleporting were causing he wandered closer to the house for a look at the hole.

It was only when he heard shouting coming from inside also that he realised how foolish they were being. He had never studied time travel – never believing it to be possible – but he had read enough science fiction books when he was younger to fear that coming face to face with their older selves could have very disastrous results.

He lingered long enough to determine it was Dawn and Reece who were yelling angrily at one another before hurrying back to the others.

"Shhh!" he tried first as he approached, but they were arguing to loudly to hear him. "Shut! Up!" he hissed instead, grabbing Buffy's arm to make them listen. "We have to hide!"

She pulled her arm away, demanding, "Why?"

"We're in there!" he said, his voice slightly hysterical as he pointed at the house. "And it could be calamitous if we are seen."

All four of them went to stand behind the boy's dormitory, out of sight of the house.

"Well, at least we know we made it back from… uh, here," Xander said.

"Did you actually see us?" Buffy asked. "What does my hair look like?" When everyone looked at her incredulously she shrugged. "What? I've been thinking of changing my style and if someone can tell me in advance it looks good I won't be so worried when I go to the salon."

Giles shook his head. "I didn't actually see anyone but I quite clearly heard Dawn arguing with Reece."

"So they're still together, then." Buffy sighed and then perked up slightly. "Did you see Faith?"

It was Giles time to sigh. "As I said I didn't see anyone…"

"We should get closer," Xander interrupted.

Giles looked at him. "Why?"

"I don't know, it just sounds…" He shrugged. "Oh, come on! Does anyone here not want to know what we have to say a year from now?"

"I'm in," Buffy said at once.

"It could be very dangerous," Giles began. "If we hear something that affects the way we live our lives from now it could bend the universe, er, out of shape possibly."

"He's right," Willow said and then added brightly. "Who's for bending the shape of the universe?"

Buffy and Xander both held up their hands.

Giles took the time to look at each of them in turn. "Are you really all that miserable with the way things are now?"

"Not miserable, per se," Willow said slowly.

"I am," Xander said flatly.

"We're all just a little…" Buffy began, trailed off, and started again in a different direction. "We had lives in Sunnydale now we're… We don't fit into our present's anymore."

"Your presents?" Giles frowned. "This is all about not fitting into the sweater Willow brought you last Christmas?"

"Noooo! Our present's! Where we should be right now. It doesn't feel right. It never feels right! Willow can't do magick without getting sick. Xander's drinking himself into an early grave. I can't seem to do a damn thing right for anyone, especially not myself or the woman I supposedly love – _and_ I'm not even _slaying! _We're all falling apart, we're lost Giles," she finished quietly.

"And you think risking the fate of the universe will help with that?" he asked slowly.

When Buffy just looked down at her hands, Willow answered. "She just thinks that maybe if we got a clue as to what the future holds for us, it would help us… get there, maybe."

Giles stared into space for a while, contemplating their argument and trying to gauge all of the things that could go wrong and if there were any ways of comply with their wishes while avoiding negative outcomes. In the end he came to the simple conclusion of: No.

"I strongly advise against this." Buffy continued to look at him like a hopeful puppy as if he hadn't spoken. "But," he said on a sigh. "If it's something you all truly feel you have to do we must at least be very careful when approaching the house."

"We could camouflage ourselves," Xander suggested. "Put grass in our hair. Mud on our faces. Kind of thing."

"I said be very careful, not make ourselves look like twerps!"

That drew a grin from Xander but he looked down almost at once as if he wasn't comfortable with it on his face.

"Okay, lets not make this harder than it needs to be," Buffy decided for all of them. "We'll go around the back of this dorm. From the other side it's the shortest point to the corner of the house. Your bedroom window is boarded up, Giles, so if we stay in front of it no one is going to see us from the inside. We'll linger there; see what we can hear, and then crawl around the sides."

"Crawl?" Willow asked, not thrilled.

"Crawl. And listen at the windows. Hopefully that way we won't accidentally get seen by ourselves."

Giles wasn't overjoyed about crawling around in the mud either but it was the safest way. "Fair enough, but I want to make this very clear, when we are by the house none of us can speak. No matter what we hear or see we must remain as silent as is possible to prevent being noticed."

They nodded and then the four of them took the route to the house that Buffy had laid out. Almost as if they had practised it, three of them pressed their ears close to the green garbage bags while Willow hung back just a step or two to act as a look out, continuously glancing first one way and then the other. Reece and Dawn were still rowing inside.

"_There's a bloody great hole in the wall, Dawn. We have to do something about it!"_

Dawn's response went unheard.

"_Yes, well, you might not mind sleeping in a draught but I bloody do! That's it; I'm calling around first thing in the morning."_

Again there was a pause that was presumably being filled by Dawn.

Reece sounded like he was trying to keep his voice calmer when he spoke again. _"I know it's his job, but he isn't here, is he!"_

Suddenly Dawn's voice carried shrilly through the plastic bags. _"Oh, that's just nice! Today of all days you throw that in my face!"_

"_Dawn, I didn't…"_

"_Go to hell, you bastard!"_

A door slammed.

"_Shit!_

The four of them looked at each other. Buffy grinned, apparently pleased with Dawn's anger, or maybe just who it was directed at. Xander mouthed, 'My job?' as he pointed at himself, causing Willow to shrug.

Giles just wondered why it sounded as if Reece and Dawn had moved into his bedroom. Dawn had a perfectly good room of her own upstairs but not half as large so he couldn't imagine himself readily agreeing to swap. Even if that was the case, even a year in the future Dawn wasn't old enough to be sharing a room with any boy, let alone Reece, she would hardly be out of high school. Surely Buffy would never allow it.

On Buffy's cue they all got to their hands and knees and began a fast crawl along the side of the house as far as his office window. They listened intently. At first there was nothing but then the clear sound of Dawn crying followed by the door opening and Rona's voice carrying faintly through the closed window.

"_We heard all that."_

"_Sorry."_

"_You don't have to apologise, Dawn, we just wanted to make sure you're… okay."_

"_I'm not. The one day I need him more than ever and he has to be a complete asshole."_

"_He's always an asshole."_

Dawn chuckled. _"Not always."_

"_Sure he is. Fucker thinks he owns this place now just 'cause he's the only with ties to London."_

"_Yeah, well, without them we'd be screwed, so..."_

"_Bull. He's just a rolodex. Far as us Slayers are concerned you're running this show now." _There was another sniffled chuckle from Dawn before Rona added. _"Come on, Charlie Brown's Thanksgivin' is about to start. Miranda made cocoa."_

When the room was silent, all four of them sat in the mud staring at each other forlornly, thanks in part to Dawn's distress, but largely because of what had been said.

"What…?" Buffy began.

Giles shook his head quickly, whispering, "No, we must wait until we are away from the house to discuss it."

"Then lets go back behind the dorm," Xander whispered.

"No! We don't know what's going on yet," Willow whispered.

"I think its pretty clear what's going on!" said Xander, forgetting to keep his voice low.

"No arguing!" Giles hissed and they both shut their mouths guiltily.

"Let's try the kitchen." Buffy started crawling again.

They went around the corner and all the way to the far end. The kitchen had windows on two sides of the house and by staying at this corner they could dart one way if someone came through the back door and the other way if someone came up the driveway. Not that Giles was entirely sure he could dart anywhere, his knees were already aching.

Andrew could be heard talking in the kitchen. It was only his voice for so long that at first Giles assumed he was in there talking to himself.

Until they heard Faith growl, _"Yeah, whatever, Andy. I don't fuckin' care!"_

He saw Buffy about to jump up but she caught herself at the last minute and stayed squatting, tense on the balls of her feet.

"_I only asked if you thought I should add some ham to the turkey for him," _Andrew sounded both harried and sympathetic.

"_I dunno, ain't ham bad for dogs?"_

"_I'm sure a werewolf constitution can handle it. And it's just that once we've all had some there won't be much turkey left."_

"_He can have mine, I ain't eating."_

"_You have to eat, Faith!"_

"_I ate yesterday, I'll probably eat tomorrow. I ain't eating today!" _There was the sound of a bottle tapping against glass and then nothing for a few seconds. Faith cleared her throat and then said, _"He probably won't turn up anyway. Dude's been feral for a year. Just seems right we should put something out, ya know?"_

'Oz?' Willow mouthed, clearly distressed.

"_Here, quit fuckin cooking for a minute and have a drink."_

"_I have to keep basting the bird…"_

"_I need to have a fuckin toast and I ain't looking like an ass doing it alone!" _Faith growled at him.

A new voice suddenly said, _"I'll take over the basting. Just show us how quick."_

Giles eyes widened. Craig was still here. He had only been due to stay for a few months. Obviously he found a way to worm out of going back to England and taking up his meagre responsibilities there. It was typical of the boy.

"_No, you need to keep your ass right where it's at and do what you're doing," _Faith snapped at him.

"_S'okay, Faith," _Craig continued, and they heard a chair scraping back. _"I figured out the spell we need to use."_

"_Really?" _Faith drawled, not believing him.

"_Yeah. If we use a restoration spell we can turn things back by at least four or five months. It'll be painful for a little while, cos we literally get reversed… like, er, rewinding a video tape but not as quick."_

Willow's eyes went wide and she said under her breath. "We can't use that spell! Painful is an understatement! And I've only read proof of it working like twice without the spell caster being literally turned inside out!"

Giles shushed her so he could continue to hear the conversation in the kitchen.

"_Will it bring them back?" _Faith asked, her voice hollow.

There was what seemed to be a lengthy uncomfortable pause before Craig said, _"No. Even timesing the ingredients by ten won't take us back far enough for that and multiplying them any further will make the whole thing too unstable. It might not work at all then. Or it might just kill us all."_

"_You sure?" _Faith sounded desperate. _"How well have you fuckin researched it?"_

"_You know he's been researching it for six months, Faith!" _Andrew sounded frustrated. _"Non-stop! He hasn't slept more than three nights a week for the past month!"_

"_Sorry if I'm cutting into your happy, gay sex time, Andrew but this is damn important, alright?"_

"_We know," _Craig said calmly. _"But this is really the best I can do. I'm not Willow Rosenberg! It won't take us all the way back but it'll undo the last six months of damage and we'll keep our memories so we'll know what's coming and can fight it better."_

"_Yeah, sure whatever. Andy, grab the shot glasses."_

There was a clink, clink, clink as three of them were set on the table and then a glug, glug, glug as something was poured into them.

"_Think you can manage to drink and baste at the said time? Good. Okay, I ain't good at this shit but it has to be done. Kennedy, wherever you are… You know I never much liked you, but… You didn't deserve to go out like that, girl." _Faith's voice broke a little._ "I'm sorry I couldn't save you. And I'm sure, wherever Oz is at if he was human right now he'd be thanking you for… you know, what you did for him."_

Faith continued to talk but it was lost to Giles as Willow fell forward, crying into the mud.

His heart went out to her, it went out for himself too – he liked Kennedy – but right now more practical measures had to take precedence.

"We have to get her away from here fast, before she draws attention to us," he whispered, trying to pull Willow up by her arm.

"No!" Willow wailed, not wanting to be moved in her grief.

Buffy took over, hauling Willow up and into her arms. Xander helped steady her weight and together they all ran for the cover of the boys' dorm.

* * *

Just in case I don't get the next bit up before: Happy Holidays!


	16. Act 3:6

Oh, guys! I never meant to leave it this long between updates. I'm really sorry about the delay. I became engrossed in other projects but here is the last part of Act 3 and I'm devoting the whole of February to this series so that should mean regular updates for a while. Hope you enjoy it :)

* * *

"This is…" Kennedy began before shaking her head. She downed another shot before continuing. "It's Thanksgiving! How did I end up stuck in a bar with you two?"

"No one is holding you hostage," Oz said amiably. "Feel free to use the door if you want."

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you? This is my local bar! Remember that before you start trying to cock your leg all over it."

Oz chuckled. "I should thank you for making Willow's decision so easy."

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Arrrrgh!" Faith yelled before dropping her head into her hands. She was sitting between them at the bar and if anyone should wonder how they got themselves stuck here it was her. "You two are putting me off my drink! Congrats, guys, 'cause no one has _ever _managed that before."

"Sorry." Oz smiled sheepishly. "I'm just worried about Willow."

"So am I!" Kennedy said quickly.

"I never said you weren't."

"I never said you were!"

"Grrrrrr!" It was no surprise to Faith that the first growl came from her and not Oz.

"Faith, everything okay?"

She looked up to see Alex smiling at her.

She managed the makings of a smile back. "I'm fine! Apart from the fact that Buffy has gone awol and I can't figure out how to put these two on a time out."

"Doesn't Xander know where she is?" Alex asked as he refilled their shot glasses at Kennedy's unspoken bequest.

"He's gone to," Kennedy told him.

Faith saw a mix of friendly concern and inquisitive cop rise in his eyes and hurried to allay his worries. If Buffy and the gang really were gone in search of a magick expert to cure Willow, the worst thing they could do was accidentally start a witch hunt.

"We think they probably just took off for the day. Buffy was s'posed to be cooking Thanksgiving dinner for all of us and I reckon she got scared and convinced them all to head for the hills."

"Which is great for them," Kennedy added, catching on. "But sucks for us."

"Why?" Alex asked with a smile.

"Because we all hate each other," Kennedy said.

"Well, I don't hate Oz." Faith shrugged.

"And I don't hate Faith," he said with a quiet smile of his own.

"But we both hate Kennedy."

"And I hate both of them," Kennedy said forcefully.

"Which about sums it up." Faith shrugged again.

All three of them downed their fresh shots as one. Oz asked for another round, which Alex hurriedly fetched for them before running to the other end of the bar. He had a habit of doing that when Faith was around.

"Do you think he screwed B?" she asked anyone who was listening.

"Doubt it," Kennedy said. "They went on one date and you interrupted that when you tried to beat her up."

She nodded once. "Good."

Kennedy suddenly leaned over the bar to look past her. "Have you slept with Willow?"

Oz had been about to take a sip of his beer. He paused his glass half way to his mouth and looked at Kennedy. "Yes."

"You sonofa…"

Faith caught Kennedy firmly by the arm before she could leap off of her stool. "You slept with her since she's been in Boudenver?"

"Is that anyone's business?" he asked mildly.

"Let's say…" Faith had to put some effort into keeping Kennedy put, which she wasn't happy about, but she still did so decisively. "… for arguments sake, yeah."

Oz shrugged. "Then, no." He finally drank some of his beer.

Kennedy settled down slowly and when she tried to slap her hand away, Faith let her.

"This could be worse, ya know?" Faith tried to say cheerfully

"How?" Oz asked.

"We could all be drinking alone on Thanksgiving."

There was a pause and then Kennedy dropped her head to the side to stare at her. "Sorry, I was waiting for the not-worse part."

Faith sighed and, as one, all three of them downed their shots.

* * *

Xander had Willow's head curled into his neck. Her unstoppable tears were burning his cold skin but he didn't care. In fact in a totally selfish way he welcomed it – it was the only inch of his body that wasn't freezing. They were all dressed for Northern Ohio – except Willow who was still in her pajamas – but they'd been inside when Willow had sneezed. Plus, the nasty, wet weather they'd been having back home had been cold enough for him, but as it turned out not as cold as a clear, fresh evening in late November. The grass was beginning to get frosty under his knees and it wasn't even dark yet.

He kept one hand cradling Willow's head and wrapped his other arm around her tighter to offer more warmth.

"So what the hell did we just hear?"

Giles had his head in one hand and was staring at the back of the dorm. Buffy was kneeling just a few inches away from him, staring at nothing with tears in her eyes.

"Are we not there anymore?" he demanded.

"Doesn't sound like it," Buffy whispered hoarsely.

"Why not?"

"There could be a hundred causes, Xander," Giles said quietly. "Perhaps we all moved on for some reason."

Willow's crying grew harder.

"Perhaps we never make it back," Buffy muttered.

Xander glared at her.

"Well, that's how it sounded to me! We were nowhere in sight. Dawn was distraught. Faith was… I don't know what Faith was. I've never heard her like that before. Kennedy is…" she trailed off. "Surely if just one of us were still living here things wouldn't be that, I don't know, bleak?"

Willow sniffed and then wiped her eyes on his neck. "Sorry," she muttered, sitting up straight.

"It's okay," he said automatically, hating seeing her so upset.

"We have to get back right now."

"How, Willow?" he asked helplessly.

"The grass spell we used before."

Giles looked around him. "It's too damp to try that spell again and even if we could there is no guaranteeing we'll end up back home right away. And you are too weak to continue jumping dimensions without a proper rest."

Xander looked at her, taking in her complexion and expression. She was definitely way greener now than she had been back in her bedroom, and it wasn't just the green of feeling sick, it was the green of actually being _green_! She looked like the wicked witch of the west after they had overdone her make up. And the look on her face… he recognised the old Willow-resolve look trying to force its way through but it was trying to force itself through overwhelming tiredness and heartbroken anguish. It had a fight on its hands and Xander figured even if it won out the first few rounds it wouldn't last the whole night.

"You need to take a break," he said firmly. "For all our sakes."

"You think I can sleep right now?"

"Maybe not sleep but you need to lie down, rest your head, close your eyes…" Xander put a hand on her shoulder and tried to ease her down.

She resisted. "I can't close my eyes! Faith drank a toast to Kennedy today! That means Kennedy is dying today. I need to get back!"

Buffy leant over her, an arm around her back below Xander's hand. "And we will. But we have way more chance at making that happen if you're at full strength and you're never going to be at full strength if you don't conserve your energy now. You're sick remember, it's not your fault but you have to take a moment to reboot."

She helped gently push Willow down until her tired, heavy head landed comfortably on Xander's thigh.

To his surprise she was asleep within seconds despite her protests.

"It's the spell inside her," Giles said quietly. "It's growing stronger, feeding on her weakness. Twisting her magick more easily now that she doesn't have the strength to combat it."

"How do we stop it?"

"The only way is to do the spell we set up back home and we need to do it fast. I believe she's safe enough while she is sleeping but when she awakes…As the spell gains more control, the more erratic her actions will become. It won't be her doing, of course, but the magick could react through her in any number of possible ways. Factoring in her grief over Kennedy…things could get rather dangerous."

"She might go dark again?" Buffy asked.

Xander stroked the red hair falling over his thigh, visualizing the black seeping into it. He was out of yellow crayon stories. He had been too hostile with her for so long he couldn't even imagine making a speech with the same power his last one had invoked.

Giles hesitated but said, "Yes, it's a possibility that the spell will work with her pain and misery to strip away her humanity. Or it may turn her into a pillar of flame or a walking time bomb. It's unlikely but not impossible that it will turn her into a turkey or make her give birth to a hundred fluffy kittens. That's the point of chaos; we have absolutely no way to predict what might happen next. I think it is safest if we presume the worst, so that we will be better prepared."

"So we need to do that spell, and fast," Buffy summed up. "We can't get home to use the ingredients you already prepared, but we're still essentially _home_. Won't Willow's magic room have more we can use?"

Giles shook his head. "Some of the ingredients were flown in especially from other parts of the world."

Xander thought about it. "What about the ingredients we left upstairs?"

"You think they'll still be there?" Buffy asked. "It's been a year."

"If you three had disappeared without me and never came back I don't think I'd have it in me to clear your rooms out for at least a year."

"Your saying they might have left them alone, like shrines or something." Buffy's nose wrinkled a little as she thought about it.

"They obviously didn't keep mine as a shrine for bloody long," Giles grumbled. "But even if they left Willow's as it was, we can't risk entering the house."

"Not all of us but I bet Buffy could sneak in and out again without getting seen." He saw Buffy peer around the corner of the dorm. to look up at the house. "There's a couple of bedroom windows just covered with plastic. If you can get on the top veranda…"

Giles vetoed the idea before he could finish. "And if Willow's sneezes while Buffy is gone, she'll be left here."

"She hasn't sneezed in ages," Buffy said. "I bet I can make it there and back before she does."

"No," Giles said firmly. "I'm not prepared to risk it. We'll wait until Willow wakes up and then assess the situation further but right now the best we can do is stay here and…"

Xander cut him off this time. "Hope for the best?" He sneered. "Hoping for the best doesn't cut it, Giles. Hoping for the best doesn't work any more! We can't just optimist our way through this. Willow needs help now. We need help now!"

After his outburst they all fell silent, no one had anything positive to add. Xander carried on stroking Willow's hair as he looked aimlessly around. The sun was just disappearing behind the trees making the scenery bleaker and the air definitely several shades colder. It would be dark very soon.

As if to reinforce this they suddenly heard girls voices carrying clearly through the still evening. Buffy poked her head around the side of the dormitory again.

"Slayers, I think. Seven of them. The only one I recognise is Alison."

"Going on patrol?" Giles wondered.

"They're all armed. Hang on a sec." Buffy listened intently for a minute. "Alison's giving them instructions. Not patrol. She's telling them to spread out around the camp." She looked back at the other two. "They're guarding it from something."

"If they come this way we'll be seen," Giles said.

"We can't disturb Willow yet," Xander reminded him.

"I know. If one comes this way Buffy will have to immobilise her."

"You want me to _immobilise_ a slayer?" Buffy didn't sound happy. "None of them look older than sixteen!"

Giles rolled his eyes. "I'm not suggesting you kill her, Buffy!"

"But still…" she looked around the corner again as she whined, "…something like that is gonna go on my permanent record."

"No it won't," Xander said with false cheeriness. "Because if we ever do it make it home, you knocking a baby slayer out cold will never have happened."

"I meant this permanent record," Buffy said, tapping the side of her head.

"Just keep an eye out," Giles said.

"Looks like we're gonna get lucky. Everyone stay real quiet."

Xander was already leaning against the back of the dormitory. He pulled Willow more along side him as best as he could without waking her as Giles pressed himself to the wooden wall next to him. Buffy pulled her body tight to the wood too but continued to look around the corner.

A teenage girl in bright blue pants and a red sweater walked past not more than ten feet away. Xander held his breath but she didn't even glance their way as she walked into the open land behind the barns, skirted the shower block and made her way towards the tree line. He exhaled noisily in relief and relaxed a little.

Buffy didn't. "What are they teaching these girls?" she muttered. "For starters she's going out there looking like a neon beer sign and she didn't even check behind here."

"That's a good thing!" Xander pointed out.

"Yes, but Buffy is right. Just because none of us are demons or vampires, the girl still should have detected that there was something here to be investigated."

"Again, good thing!"

"Things have obviously gone down hill since we didn't come back," Buffy muttered.

"The house already pointed that out to us," Xander said.

Willow slowly began to wake up. At first he tensed, half expecting his lower half to turn into something icky if she woke up irritable. She pushed herself up, slumped against his chest as she lost her balance for a second and then slid sideways onto her butt so that she could lean against the back of the dorm.

"Hey." She blearily rubbed her eyes. "Please tell me Kennedy dying was just this bad dream I had."

"I'm afraid not, Willow," Giles said softly.

She clenched her eyes closed, gave a loud sob but then took a deep breath. By the time she opened her eyes she was almost back to her old self.

"What did I miss?" She looked around. "Obviously I didn't sneeze in my sleep. Did we figure out a way back yet?"

"How are you feeling, Willow?" Buffy asked cautiously.

"Like I'm about to throw up and…" She waved a hand in the air. "Can anyone else see them?"

Xander chuckled nervously. "See what?"

"I have rainbows coming out of my fingertips." Willow sounded slightly in awe but seeing that she was making everyone else wary she changed the subject. "So no way back?"

"We're more worried about you right now." Xander's arm was still around her and he squeezed her shoulder. "We need to find a way to cure you, fast."

"Getting home is more important. A-and if you cure me I might not be able to get us home."

"Willow," Giles began gently. "If you don't get better very soon, any more teleporting… well, we probably won't get home anyway."

Willow was quiet for a moment and then she said softly, "Okay, so how do we get me better?"

"We need the ingredients for the spell, but the only place they possibly might be is your bedroom and we can't all go together in case we get seen and I can't go alone in case you sneeze," Buffy said, frustrated.

"So we just need to do a spell? Okay, come on." Willow stood up.

"Where are you go…?" As Willow went dizzy and fell back down onto Xander, Buffy changed her question. "Where are you trying to go?"

Willow held a hand to her head. "The woodshed."

Standing himself, Xander helped her up. "You think the Pixies will help?"

"I don't know, but I think they're our only shot."

"They were not very friendly the last time we encountered them," Giles reminded her.

"In fact they were tiny little assholes," Buffy backed him up.

"They were upset, but it's been over a year. Maybe they won't help us but I still think Beryan is the only one who can."

"There are Slayer guards posted all over the property," Giles said as he and Buffy joined them on their feet.

"Why?"

"We don't know," Xander told her. "But I'm guessing they're expecting an attack of some kind tonight."

"From what Craig said earlier, I assume we – they – have been suffering rather a lot of attacks recently," Giles said.

"We can't worry about that now," Buffy said, although Xander could tell the idea of avoiding slayage didn't sit well with her. "Get Willow better. Get home. Those are our only goals." She paused while she looked around the corner again. "Okay, no one's in sight. We have to run to the back of the training barn. Think you can make it, Will?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little… no, I'm fine."

Xander looked at her with concern but Buffy started running before he could ask any questions. He ran too, holding Willow just above the elbow to help her along.

Once behind the training barn, he began, "Are you…?"

She puked yellow fire in front of their feet before he could finish, kind of answering his question. It singed the grass and caused a mushroom of horrible smelling yellow smoke to rise up.

Buffy and Giles both grabbed hold of Willow, but while she coughed a little she didn't sneeze.

"Ow that hurt," Willow put a hand to her throat.

Buffy rubbed her back for a moment and then went to the other side of the training barn to look around.

"There's a Slayer twenty feet that way," she whispered, pointing into the training field. "So everyone be quiet."

As soon as she said it she darted along the hedge, past the truck, to the edge of the garage. Again he helped Willow along; again she puked yellow fire when they stopped. They all grabbed hold, she still didn't sneeze.

"Okay, I think I need a glass if water," Willow said hoarsely, rubbing both hands up and down her throat now.

Xander bent down and plucked a handful of the long, frosty grass. "Best I can do right now."

"You expect me to eat it?"

"I was thinking just suck it."

"What if Goorzie's pee'd on it?"

Xander chuckled as Buffy said, "Come on, if we go around the back of here we're only a hundred yard dash from the woodshed."

They followed her as Willow pulled the ice crystals from the green stems and licked them off her fingers.

"Helping?"

"Not really?"

They were twenty yards into their hundred yard dash when a bell started to toll. It sounded like a large, hand-held bell being shaken roughly in a panic. It made all of them stop and look around in alarm.

"Back behind the garage," Giles insisted.

They all did a one-eighty and ran back there. Willow wasn't sick this time but she did lean against the wall and groan.

"What the hell does the bell mean?" Xander asked.

Giles held his hand up, palm to the sky to indicate he didn't know.

"Something not good." Buffy was doing her thing of looking around the corner. "Shit, Faith's just ran out of the house – armed to the teeth. She's not fit to slay. She's wobbling!"

Xander was already reaching out but Giles caught his Slayer's arm first. "You can't go running in there, Buffy!"

"I can't just let her die either!" Buffy shook his hand off.

"At least wait until we know what the threat is," Xander said. "Maybe then you can help without getting seen."

Willow seemed to forget they were supposed to be staying as quiet as possible and started shouting "Ah! Ah! Ah!" while waving her arm around in the air. Three seagulls suddenly flew out of her sleeve, flapping around them until they gained enough height to just fly away.

Xander broke the stunned silence which followed with: "Well, that was unexpected."

Buffy and Giles both just nodded.

"I didn't like that," Willow said, her voice shaky. "They scratched."

They were all still staring at her, scared of what might fly out of her sleeve next, when pandemonium broke out around the corner.

* * *

"Okay, you think you're so...so clued in on the whole freakin'…"

Faith paused as an increasingly worried Alex reluctantly set another three shots on the bar. She downed it, sniffed, set the glass back down and leaned back to stretch. She caught herself with the edge of the bar to save herself just before she fell off the back of her stool. Eyes darting warily from side to side she wondered if she could get away with pretending she'd meant to do that. Nobody could focus enough to pay any attention anyway.

Kennedy threw back her shot and randomly asked, "What?"

"What?"

"Yeah, what?"

Faith frowned, "What what?"

As Kennedy groaned and laid her forehead on her arm, Oz reminded her, "You were about to ask a question."

"I was?"

She turned her head, confused, but just ended up grinning at him. Oz drunk was funny. He was sitting with his legs crossed Indian-style on his bar stool, his back perfectly ramrod straight, but he was swaying evenly from side to side like a mechanical metronome. Most of the time he was quiet but now and again a comment would catch his interest and he would answer in such a deep, philosophical way that not only did Faith and Kennedy have trouble following it, he even lost his own point a few times. It didn't seem to faze him, nor did Kennedy's bitchy comments. He just blinked, said a soft, "Huh." and downed another shot. He was a way better drinking partner than Kennedy anyway who was all grouchy and speechy and telling her what she should be doing like she could possibly know Buffy better than…

Just like that she remembered her train of thought. "Hey, don't interrupt me! I was talking here. Ya think you know her so well, like you're all…best buddies or whatever…like you can get in her head better 'n me 'cause…'cause you're like…" Alex set some more glasses on the bar in front of them and Faith raised a hand to him, snapping, "Wait!" She wasn't losing her flow again. "'Cause I know her…her…Buffy better than you ever could. We're joined; we have this… thing…this thing…this…" She waved a hand around, willing the word to come to her. "…this…name! We have a…a special name because… 'cause we're all joined and…and linked…and we have this…this…mystical…wotsit-thing."

Kennedy nodded, "Slayerisity. I have it too."

"No, 'nother thing. Name-thing from before… before you was… born."

Kennedy managed to get one eye focused on her without lifting her head. "I'm only tru…_two_ years younger than you?"

Faith waved her hand around. "Ya know what I mean."

Kennedy raised her head just enough to put her shot glass to her lips and slurped up the amber contents. "We should do jello shots. It's a party, gotta have jello shots at a party. We should buy some jello from the place with the jello so Buff can make us some."

"Green jello," Oz said solemnly, like he was imparting the mysteries of the universe. Faith turned to look at him; Kennedy leaned around her to do the same. He gave the slightest of shrugs. "Orange is good too."

Kennedy wiped the back of a hand over her mouth and sat back until she could just see Faith. "What is it?"

Faith quirked an eyebrow at her, or tried to, it might not have been happening for real. "Orange? It's a…a fruity like kinda round thing they make…jello out of."

Something about that sentence didn't fit for Faith but Kennedy started laughing before she could try again.

"Noooo! What's the…thingy…thingy-name you and…B…"

Faith slapped her shoulder. "Don't call her that. That's…that's my name. Not my name, her name… but it's my name for her…name."

"So… what's this other name?"

"Um…" Faith thought about it. She thought about it for a long time. She thought about it for so long she forgot what she was thinking about. "…What?"

"Raspberry's good too. Willow likes raspberry jello."

Kennedy's arm swung around, finger wobbling few inches from Faith's nose as she pointed at Oz. "Give it up, White fang! She's not your raspberry jelling…raspberry jelloing…raspberry _jello-loving _girlfriend anymore. She's my cherry-flavoured-girlfriend loving girlfriend loving…no, just one loving…one me-loving girlfriend. No raspberries."

Faith blinked at her several times before asking slowly. "Did you just describe yourself as a cherry-flavoured girlfriend?"

For the first time ever since she had known him, Oz laughed out loud. In fact he didn't just laugh he broke into drunken giggles and his back and shoulders shook as he swayed back and forth on his stool.

"What makes you cherry-flavoured?" Faith asked earnestly.

Kennedy gaped for a second, her mind probably not working all that quickly right now and then tried to answer the question seriously. "I…I…I…"

"I mean do you eat like lots of…of cherries? Or do you…do you bath in…in…in cherry-coke or something? What is it?"

Kennedy was gone, leaning over the bar again, narrowly missing crushing her shot glass with her forehead, laughing helplessly at Faith's intense questioning.

Faith shook her head, grinning faintly and, against even her own better judgement, finally downed her shot. She knew she was kinda drunk now. Drunk to the point where she was enjoying not just Oz's company but even Kennedy's. That was pretty drunk. Shit. She groped in her pockets for her cigarettes but couldn't find them. In fact she couldn't remember picking them up before they left the house. Damn!

Everything was going wrong. Not that she was surprised; everything always went wrong around her. Buffy not wanting to spend Thanksgiving with her though really sucked the hardest. What had she actually done to piss her off that bad? They had been bickering the last few days, but then they'd been bickering ever since their failed date, actually they'd been bickering ever since the day they'd met! So that couldn't be it. It was probably just Buffy's way of keeping all the freakin' control between them. She'd probably heard them talking in the training barn and realised Faith was about to make some huge sacrifice to make life easier between them and instead of being grateful she found a way to screw it up. And disappearing had certainly done that. That way she didn't have to give any ground herself, let her own guard down, have sex with her, for fucks sake!

Surely B couldn't be that mad that Faith wanted to have sex with her. So mad that she completely ruined everyone else's Thanksgiving too? It wasn't exactly an unreasonable request for someone claiming to be her girlfriend. Although… come to think of it, Buffy was the one who kept saying they weren't 'properly' together yet, whatever the hell that meant. And if they were properly together Buffy never would have taken off for the holiday, right? Faith was damn sure her ass would be kicked black and blue if she'd shot through for Buffy's special meal but apparently it was okay for Buffy and the Superfriends! They were probably in Atlantic City, having a great time playing the slots and eating turkey sandwiches while she was drunk and depressed, rocking a bar stool on this _special family fuckin' holiday. _

So if Buffy _wasn't _her girlfriend yet, and wouldn't have sex with her, that must mean she was still allowed to have sex with other people, right? Buffy couldn't bitch her out for it. Girl had needs after all and it had been a long time. A long, long time… Great, she'd moved on from drunk and depressed to drunk, horny and depressed.

She turned on the barstool, checking out her options. A few middle-aged couples were scattered around the bar having a quiet drink. The old men who spent so much time there they might as well have just moved in were at their usual tables around the back. Finding nothing appetising, she turned back on her stool, grumbling under her breath until she spotted Alex. He was down the other end of the bar, opening a fresh bottle of something and… he was actually kinda good-looking – all big and muscley and his beard still wasn't much more than tufty stubble yet. Sensing her attention he looked down the bar to her with a smile. She gave him her best 'want-take-have' grin.

His eyes went wide and he nearly smashed the bottle against the bar as he tried to fumble it onto a level surface. As soon as he could let go without it falling over he did so and then he dashed through the door that led to the private area behind the bar. Faith leaned towards Kennedy, trying to peer through it but it wasn't long before she came to the conclusion that he wasn't coming back.

Faith slumped back onto her stool despondently. She needed some kind of action before she just shrivelled up and died inside. Slaying was lame around here, her and Buffy had been _not-_together for nearly two months and the blonde was still refusing to put out despite how patient Faith felt she was being. Something had to give and it had to be now, because she was drunk and she was going to lose it and do something stupid if it didn't.

She regarded Kennedy, who was just pulling herself together and sitting upright again and then tried to focus on the swaying Oz as she casually asked, "So…do two fancy a threesome?"

With a peel of laughter, Kennedy flopped over the bar top again, sending empty shot glasses and a half full glass of beer flying in her hysteria. On her other side, the unflappable Oz swayed the wrong way and fell backwards off his stool to slap the ground hard with his back.

"Why does nobody wanna screw me anymore?" Faith pitifully asked the world at large.

Hearing the crash of flying shot glasses and people hitting the floor, Alex came running out behind the bar again. Faith looked up hopefully, thinking he'd heard her plea but on second thoughts he didn't look in the mood for anything but…

"Okay you three, consider yourselves cut off. You can't be brawling all over my bar on Thanksgiving. It's a family holiday."

"We're not brawlin'" Kennedy pointed out, sounding offended that he should even consider they would do such a thing.

He stopped as he realised she was right.

"And there's no kids," Faith added, looking around to make sure. "Nope, no kids."

"I guess you're right, well in that case…" he began reasonably and then pointed firmly at the door and bellowed. "Out!"

Faith rocked back on her bar stool. "No need to shout, dude, I'm like right here."

"Yes, and I want you 'out there'. Go home, sober up, wait for Buffy and Willow." Alex came out from behind the bar, helping them from their stools and shooing them towards the door. "Here's an idea: why don't you cook the meal for them. Give them a reason to hurry home. But don't use the stove," he added quickly. "Eddie and Buck don't want to have to get the fire truck out on Thanksgiving. Enjoy the rest of your day folks and take it easy on the way home. It's getting dark."

Faith looked around as the heavy door closed solidly behind them, surprised to have found herself herded out into the cold with such ease. That would never have happened a few years ago. Prison had made her soft. Either that or she was wicked drunk.

Oz was standing there in the road, still swaying to a tune only he could hear, but Kennedy was less passive about being dumped on the doorstep. She turned to hammer her fist on the door, regardless of the fact that it wasn't locked, and called for entry.

Laughing at her, Faith pulled her away. "Come on, thanks to you we out stayed our…thingy."

"Tab," said Oz.

"No, uh…welcome."

"No, we didn't pay our tab."

Faith turned back to the door and then stopped, a roguish smirk slipping on to her face, and she turned back around. "We should probably get going, like the good cop said."

They started to walk up the street. With dusk falling and the holiday it was even emptier than usual. Ghost town quiet with swirls of leaves rushing helter-skelter across the road in place of tumbleweeds.

The general store was still open though and Faith stopped in front of it. "I need some smokes."

"And beer," Oz said and Faith nodded appreciatively.

"And jello," said Kennedy, and added decisively, "Cherry."

They disappeared inside for a few minutes, bought what they needed, and then left, already bickering mildly about who was going to carry the heavy case of beer. They were all far too drunk to notice the yellow eyes watching them from the alley opposite nor did they realise that the shadowy figure they belonged to followed them discreetly along the road out of town.

* * *

It took a while for the four of them to figure out what was going on in the chaos that suddenly rained upon the camp. Hidden as they were behind the garage. But the future inhabitants, or the inhabitants of the future maybe, seemed to know exactly what was happening and were obviously prepared for it and slayer-shouts echoed around the outbuildings as they were attacked from all sides.

"It's the lizards," Buffy said, feeling panicky at seeing Faith swinging a sword while so drunk. "But there's a hell of a lot more than thirteen of them!"

"The same lizard demons that attacked us a few weeks ago?" Giles asked.

"Well, they're not wearing name tags but I think it's a safe bet," she said impatiently.

"They're not the enemy," Willow panted.

"Gotta disagree with you there, Will," Xander said from where he was watching another couple of slayers battle a lizard at the other end of the garage.

"They're not the enemy," Willow repeated.

"Do you know something, Willow?" Giles asked carefully.

"Yes," she yelled, "I know they're not the enemy!"

Buffy stopped watching Faith to give her a wary look. The others did the same.

"Neither am I!" she assured them quickly. "Look, Andrew's research all said they weren't magick, yet they managed to do something pretty magickal to me, and not in a nice, fairy dust, happy ever after way. There is someone controlling them, someone who _is_ magickal and now we're gone, or maybe just now _I'm _gone, they're stronger, so there's more demons. That's makes sense, right, Giles?"

He nodded. "It's certainly a feasible theory."

"That's great, Will, but we don't have time for theory!" Buffy's body jerked in revulsion and the need to fight as a slayer battling just a few feet from Faith had her throat slit by a lizard's long claws. "We need to act now!"

"That's just it. We do have time. We're out of time, I mean, out of our time. All we need to do to stop this is get back to our time and figure out who's controlling them and stop them before they can get this powerful."

"And we just leave Faith, and Dawn and…and Andrew to die like Kennedy obviously did?" Willow slumped against the back of the garage but Buffy didn't have time for sympathy, not when her own girlfriend and sister might still be saved from the same fate. "I'm going out there. I need to help."

Giles grabbed her arm. She could have shrugged him off like he wasn't there but Xander had already run back to them and he grabbed her too, helping Giles to pull her back behind the garage.

"Buff, you can't do anything. There's like sixty lizards out there, and that's just the ones I saw, that might mean there's really one hundred and twenty. And you don't have a weapon."

It wasn't that much more effort to shrug the two them off. "I'm sure Faith will lend me one."

"She can't be allowed to see you," Giles reminded her.

"I'm really not giving a crap about the stability of the universe right now, Giles!"

"And I'm sure the universe doesn't give a crap about your love life right now," Giles snapped back, harshly enough that she calmed down just enough to listen. "But you are The Slayer and you will think with your head and not your heart for two bloody minutes."

"I'm not The Slayer anymore."

"You are The Slayer," he repeated forcefully. "Now, would you rather rush out there and die gallantly by her side or do your damnedest to get back home and save her life? And possibly a lot of other lives in the process."

"Including Kennedy's," Willow said weakly.

Buffy hesitated, the blood was pumping fast through her veins at being so close to the battle and it was almost impossible to ignore the voice in her head telling her to slash, hack, slay! They had a point though.

"So what do we do? Willow's too weak to teleport. And even if she wasn't there's nothing to say we won't just spend the night tripping all over the place again."

"We stick with our original plan." Willow pushed herself away from the garage with a groan. "Woodshed."

There was only one problem to that plan now. In the time they'd been talking Faith, Rona and a slayer Buffy didn't recognise had begun forcing two of the demonic lizards towards the perimeter of the camp, taking a short cut directly between the garage and the woodshed.

"Oh boy, this vacation just keeps getting better and better," Xander griped. "Now what do we do?"

"Run like hell?" Buffy suggested.

"Maybe we can sneak past them," said Willow. "They look pretty absorbed."

"No, there's too high a possibility of being seen. We should wait until they've either dispatched the demons, or forced them beyond us and then make our way across."

There was a roar, making all four of them jump, and a startled look behind showed a lizard demon at the other end of the back of the garage. It had spotted them and looked real eager to claim the prize none of its brethren had spotted yet. It came towards them on stumpy legs that shouldn't have been able to move that fast.

"Run like hell!" Xander had the deciding vote and the other three were too alarmed to do anything but go along with it.

They shot out from behind the garage into the melee, with Buffy and Xander supporting Willow between them and the demon hot on their heels.

* * *

Where the road began to bend to the left for half a mile there was a short cut that Kennedy knew of. It led through the trees up a steep slope, but it cut a good twenty minutes off the walk home. She was secretly pleased that she knew it and Faith didn't.

Actually, there was nothing secret about her pleasure. "How long have you been here now and you still don't know your way around?"

"I know my way around. I just ain't had time to be trekking up mountains. Some of us have a job, ya know?" Faith grumbled.

It was her turn to carry the beers, and she was making the job lighter by drinking them steadily as they walked. Still she was making the wet, muddy slope look easy. Oz wasn't, and to prove it he slipped down a several feet again on his knees. Kennedy laughed at him as she used tree trunks and occasionally the damp weeds to stop herself from doing the same.

She was still laughing and about to throw another snarky comment Faith's way when a sudden crashing of undergrowth all around them froze the chuckle in her throat. It was too dark to see what was making the noise but almost at once Faith gave a yell and tumbled down the slope past her.

Before Kennedy could turn to see if she was okay, a bunch of the lizardy Meluthian Hedrays emerged from the darkness to surround them.

"Oh, shit!"

The case of beer was the first casualty, smashing to the ground as Faith lost her hold on it in her fall, but Kennedy had the sinking feeling that it wouldn't be the last.

[End of Act Three]

_[Thanks for reading. All comments gratefully received] _


	17. Act 4:1

Thanks for the reviews, and big, big thanks to Melowa for checking this over for me :)

* * *

[Act Four]

True night had fallen now, making it even harder to fight on the steep slope between the trees. Kennedy's feet kept catching on damp weeds or slipping on the slick mud and it was impossible to know what was going on anywhere except right in front of her. The angry shouts from Faith and occasional grunt from Oz only made everything that much more confusing.

Even what _was_ right in front of her was hard to follow in the darkness. There was one demon, then two, then three, and then one or more would peel off to join the demons around Faith, or those around Oz. As soon as Kennedy felt she was starting to get the upper hand against her single combatant, back some more would run, long claws waving around in front of them and thick tails swishing back and forth just above the ground, making the already precarious footing even more unsafe.

"Who else thinks this would be more fun with weapons?" she called out as she almost tripped again.

She wasn't so much trying to make conversation, as trying to make sure the other two were still capable of talking. That said, she really would be enjoying this more with something sharp or pointy in her hand, or both… sharp and pointy was good too. All she had was her hands, that were neither sharp nor particularly pointy, and although her reach was longer than their's she certainly didn't have the crazy, sharp talons the demons did.

"Got a weapon," Faith grunted from somewhere behind her. "Broken beer bottle."

"I have a branch," Oz said, following it immediately with the sound of said branch smacking a scaly head.

"So I'm the only one without a weapon?" she griped.

She didn't dare poke her hand into the case of broken beers in case she sliced it off on a shard of glass instead, not that she could see the case, and she didn't have time to grope on the ground for a tree branch – if she was lucky enough to fall over one, then great but otherwise she had no choice but to attack the demons empty handed.

As that realisation sank in, she did so with gusto. Leading with a right hook that was only marginally less powerful than Buffy's, thanks to all the extra training she was putting in – if you allowed for pretty big margins anyway – she caught the closest demon on the end of its broad nose. It's head went back and she brought her left foot up squarely into the base of its throat. The demon fell back with a squeal and Kennedy grinned at her victory, however minor, before the alcohol in her system reasserted it's influence…losing her balance, she fell backwards too.

Faith pulled her broken bottle back from missing its mark _again _and ducked a left – paw? Whatever lizard hands were called – full of sharp claws. She remained crouched down when she saw Kennedy taking a tumble, waiting to see if she had to leap that way to save her, but the kid-Slayer scrambled back up by herself, cursing as blue as Faith at the mud, the hill and the sneak attack.

So, she leapt upwards instead on her powerful if shaky-right-now legs and double-kicked the demon about to loom over her. Once in the chest and again in the jaw. It staggered one way and as she landed, Faith staggered the other way, catching a gnarly tree root in her left hand she used it to propel herself forwards, upwards, and the jagged end of the bottle in her right pierced the hard scales of the demon flesh just enough to make it scream and flail its stupid, short arms in the air.

"Hey, guys," she called out excitedly, giving the bottle a good, vicious twist in the Meth-head's chest. "Think the game changed at some point. Bastards can be hurt now!"

A thick tail whipped out of the darkness, catching her hip and sending her flying even further down the slope into the open but unwelcoming branches of a pine tree. Her weapon, stuck firm in the demon's chest, did not fly with her.

"'Course," she added groggily as she slid painfully down the trunk. "So can we."

Oz spun as he watched her fly past, jumping over his own tail – well, not his _own _tail – trying with every ounce of balance he usually had to keep his feet, as he landed on the slippery slope again. He wasn't a trained fighter like the other two. Even in his tenure as a 'Scooby' he had never done more much more than take easily available and opportunistic shots at the bad guys, as a human anyway, but years of healthy living in Tibet and other communes around the world had him at the peak of health – alcohol rushing through his veins discounted – and the wolf kept him fast and agile.

So, he might not be able to land a punch that would make these guys blink, but he could jump, duck, swerve and bring that solid tree branch down in places he hoped were tender and then be back out of range again before those thin but lethal looking claws disembowelled him.

In a move that felt ninja-ish, his sensitive nose got wind of the reptile stink of a demon lunging at him from behind his left shoulder, reflexively he twirled the branch in his hands underarm and jabbed it behind him. He felt the way it caught the lizard in it's stomach, stopping it, and used its momentary surprise to spin around like a pro-batter, rising from a semi-crouch to swing at the lizard's, now even more surprised, head. It was a good, solid hit and the demon went down sideways. Even better, it stayed down.

Oz nodded at the lump of green scales he had just knocked out cold and felt the urge to grin cockily. It passed when the next demon came for him, stubby arms out in front of it like a rubber monster from a B-movie, claws poised to rend flesh, like something out of a very real nightmare.

It _really _passed when he tried to repeat his earlier move and swung hard at the demon's head, only to hear two sickening cracks instead of one. The first was the demon's skull – that one worked out okay – the lizard staggered around before collapsing and beginning to roll slowly down the hill. The second crack wasn't so okay and Oz looked in mild alarm at what remained of his sturdy branch – about four inches. The rest had shattered on impact.

"Okay." Another demon was slowly advancing on him through the trees and he had no choice but to back carefully down the slope away from them. "Anyone have a plan yet?"

"Try not to die!" Kennedy called out sarcastically, still engaged in her own fist to scaly claws fight a little higher up.

"Anything more specific?" he wondered, still back-stepping down, eyes scanning the muddy ground for any more handy, two foot long, branches.

"Yeah," Faith shouted from right behind him. "Duck!"

He did better than that, landing flat out on the ground thanks to her helpful shove. He narrowly managed to stop his face from hitting it too and looked up to see the damaged, dripping case of beer soar through the air above him to hit his demonic pursuer on top of its wide snout. The bottles not already smashed now did so, raining glass and Coors into the lizard's eyes. Blinded, it gave a hair-raising screech and trying to claw the sudden sharp, stinging pain away and taking some of its eyes with it.

It didn't go down, but it ran away, still screeching and hitting the occasional tree due to its lack of vision. Oz watched until the figure was lost in the darkness and then pushed himself to his hands and knees, thick mud squidging between his fingers and coating the front of his clothes.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Faith was already back in her own battle.

By the time he was back on his feet another demon – bigger and meaner than the last – was coming for him.

"Uh, Faith, any more cases of beer up your sleeve?"

* * *

They were thirty yards from the woodshed and by some miracle they hadn't been spotted yet. The fact that the day had gone from dusk to dark while they had been hiding behind the garage helped. So did the fact that the fight Faith, Rona and the new girl were in, with now three lizard foes, was so loud and intense that Buffy could barely hear Willow's panting right by her ear.

They were twenty yards away when Buffy saw a fourth demon leap down from the garage roof to join their particular fray. How the hell had it got up there? She didn't have time to call out the question and she only just managed to stop herself from crying out a warning too.

Instead she bit her tongue and ducked out from under Willow's arm, pushing her firmly towards Xander.

"What…?" he began.

"Go, get to the woodshed," she was keeping her voice down but her urgency was more than clear. "I just gotta…"

She faintly heard Willow cry out, "No…catastrophic…" but she was already moving away from them and Xander hadn't slowed down a bit.

As luck would have it, and hers usually didn't run this way, Faith whirled around swinging at the demon behind her with her sword just as Buffy leapt out of the concealing darkness. She landed on the back of the ambushing demon only seconds after its feet touched the grass. She broke its neck with one sharp twist and as she fell with it, rolled herself fluidly back into the darker shadows between the out-buildings. Crouched there, she surveyed the continuing fight, ready to spring into action again. She was weapon-less, though, and she would never have gotten the jump on that thing – no pun intended – if she hadn't had the element of surprise. She had made the fight a little fairer but there was nothing else she could do.

Half turning away already, she twisted back in surprise as something broke free of the battle and staggered fast towards her. Scratch that, some_one_. Faith had taken a hard hit and was stumbling backwards, back of one arm held over her nose, obviously in pain, the other pin wheeling with the sword in her hand, trying desperately to keep her footing.

She failed.

Buffy was prepared to take some of the blame for that, seeing as Faith tripped right over her still-crouching form hidden in the darkness. She sprawled over on her back, nearly knocking herself out with the hilt of her own sword. Looking stunned to begin with, when Buffy leaned over her automatically, pulling her arm away to assess the damage to her nose, she looked way more stunned.

"B?" she breathed her name like she was having some kind of celestial vision.

Buffy froze with guilt for a second and then decided to go with exactly that. "Uh huh, but best if you think of me like some... tweetie birds."

"Uh…" Faith frowned, looking more like her old self – or current self as may be. "…What?"

"Tweet tweet…tweet tweet…" she flapped her hands like little wings over Faith's head for a moment and then used her sleeve to wipe the little trail of blood coming from her nose. "Come on, you're fine, you have to get up."

Faith did sit up, but only because Buffy was dragging her in that direction. She seemed much more content to lay there and stare at her in shock and awe than jump back into the melee. The scent of hard liquor was pouring from her mouth with every breath; it was so strong it might even have been seeping from her pores, making it hard to tell if this dopey reaction was down to being wasted, or the blow she had taken to the face.

"Where did you go?"

"Nowhere. I've always been here."

That was true but also had the added benefit of sounding suitably otherworldly, in case there was more chance that Faith would buy in to her being an angel than she had her tweetie bird impression.

"You've been gone for fuckin' ever!" And then Faith started crying.

Buffy sat back on her heels, pulling her to her chest quickly in acute surprise. Faith was still smiling but those were definitely big, fat tears pouring down her cheeks and her voice hitched as she continued.

"I been waiting…always waiting…but you were just…gone, B. You were just…gone."

"I know. I didn't mean to be."

"S'okay, you're back now, right?"

As Faith went to give her a sloppy hug, Buffy spotted one of the overgrown reptiles breaking out of the clash towards them. Instead of accepting the embrace she snatched Faith's sword from her hand.

"Just need to borrow this."

"Hey, that's mine. Get one of your own!"

The blade was sharp and one angry swing was all it took to send a lizard head bouncing awkwardly across the grass. These things were a lot easier to take down that they had been the last time Buffy had encountered them, making her doubt Willow's theory that their power had increased in the past year.

She was back by Faith's side before the other slayer had fully finished her complaint. She handed the sword back and then yanked Faith to her unsteady feet.

"Do I have any of my own here?"

Faith blinked at her. "What?"

"Weapons? Are they still in my room? Did you leave our rooms the same?"

Faith looked ashamed, her hand flexed convulsively around the hilt of her sword and Buffy was amazed to see her start crying again.

"We did… We did! But it's been a year, B! And once the Wilferoo opened up in the girl's dorm and…and the boy's got ripped apart by the Saquatchii we needed the space, yunno? And somewhere we could, I dunno, batten down the hatches together or whatever."

Buffy had never heard of the Saquatchii and she had no clue in the world what a Wilferoo might be. In fact, if Faith hadn't been crying and wobbling about in the middle of a massive battle for their home, she would have thought the girl was messing with her. That really didn't seem to be the case though, so she did her best to listen above the sounds of the fight, aware she really shouldn't be talking to Faith at all – tweetie birds didn't ask about weapons… angels might though, she reasoned – and tried not to sound too offended when she asked:

"So, our stuff. You what? Just threw it all out when it got in the way?"

Faith laughed through her sniffles. It was weird and unsettling seeing Faith cry; it sent cold shivers up and down her spine and made her want to weep too.

"Nah, babe, we kept all of it. S'in boxes in the basement."

"All of it?"

"Yeah, even…even Kennedy's stuff."

"Okay, thank you." Buffy squeezed the arm she was still gripping. "Seriously, thank you. I have to go."

"Go? What the hell, B? You only just got here!"

"I know, but…"

"No buts…you can't just go again!"

"I don't want to, I have to." She started backing away. "And you have to fight! The girls, your girls, are getting beat out there, Faith. They can't win this without you."

"Not gonna win it with me either. Might as well just come with you now."

"No! You have to fight. If you want to see me again you have to stay alive and save the camp. You have to prove we can do it."

"What's the point?" Faith looked like she was about to throw her sword to the ground in defeat. "If you're not even gonna stick around?"

Buffy rushed back to her, cupping the sides of her head in both hands as she pulled her into a fast, fiery kiss. She stroked her thumbs gently over Faith's cheeks as she pulled back, wiping away the trails of tears. The tender gesture was at complete odds to the fierce brawl happening just couple of dozen yards away.

"There's one point."

Faith went from looking stunned to breaking into a sudden relaxed grin. "Been waitin' over a year for you to do that."

Buffy smirked as she started backing away again. "I know. Sorry about that."

"You'll come back?"

"Hopefully a lot sooner than you think."

"Cool. B, before you go…"

Buffy paused level with the woodshed, waiting to see what Faith had to say before she dashed around it to the door.

"I lo…"

A hand came out of nowhere and gripped the back of her sweatshirt. With one hard, unexpected pull Buffy was yanked into the darkness behind the woodshed.

Faith blinked at the spot where she had been, face creased in confusion for several moments before she was sure Buffy wasn't about to suddenly pop back into existence again.

"Man, I been hit on the freakin' head too many times this year," she decided as she turned and leapt back into the middle of Big-Ass-Lizard-Fest 2004.

Behind the woodshed, Buffy not so playfully slapped Giles' arm continuously until they made it to the front of the small wooden structure where the other two were waiting nervously by the door.

"She was…about to…say the… L word…Giles!" she ground out between slaps. "We haven't…said that…yet!"

"Do you bloody mind?" Giles snapped, getting as far from her as he could in the huddle and clutching his arm with a grimace. "You were told not to engage!"

"I didn't engage. She engaged. She fell over me before I could run away."

"You should not have stopped!" he insisted angrily.

"You're the one who made a big deal out of me still being The Slayer," Buffy shot back. "And sorry, but The Slayer can't watch a vicious demon kill my unsuspecting friends!"

"If you had kept running you wouldn't have seen anything."

Buffy opened her mouth to retaliate but Xander spoke first.

"We could argue about this all night…" he began before adding firmly. "But let's not."

"Yeah, we need to get inside," Willow's voice was even weaker than before and there was a patch of singed yellow grass half a foot away that could have been the handiwork of her stomach.

Wasting no more time, Buffy barged through the woodshed door. It was pitch black inside but at once she felt the familiar feeling of twenty-five six inch high, purple people cannon-balling into her. They clung on to her hair, her clothes, her sneaker laces, knocking her off-balance. A second later she was flat out, pinned to the floor on her back and groaning at the sudden fall.

"I really shoulda knocked first, huh?"

* * *

[_Tbc... Thanks for reading :)_]


	18. Act 4:2

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter :) Not much more of this episode to go. (Thankfully! I started it over a year ago!)

* * *

They were loosely back to back now. Faith would have preferred it if they were grouped even tighter but it just wasn't possible on the slippery slope. Every time one of them tried to attack they slithered a little further down. So they were mostly concentrating on defence. If they could just hold out until…

Until what? These lizard freaks got tired and went home? Yeah, 'cause that was gonna happen when there were five times as many of them and she was pretty freakin' positive that none of the demons had started this fight wasted. True, drugs and alcohol passed through a Slayer's system pretty quickly but not that damn fast!

She couldn't remember if these things were nocturnal or not but even if they were daylight had to be twelve hours away yet. None of them were going to last that long unless something drastically changed in their favour.

"Get in closer, Ken!" she yelled, grabbing Kennedy's arm as she started to slip.

"I'm trying," the younger slayer snapped back. "But this is stupid! They're surrounding us and I don't feel like playing the piggy in the middle."

"Well, what else do you suggest? We ain't got no weapons to attack with and at least this way the bastards can't get us from behind."

"But it's not working," Kennedy stressed. "We need to…" she thought about it for a moment. "We need to run. The house can't be more than ten minutes away and we have to be able to run faster than them."

"Okay," Faith gestured about them. "You wanna run through that wall of demons, or that one? Or how about the one behind us?"

"I can create a space," Oz said.

It was the first time he had spoken for a while. He was the most winded of all of them and on top of that he was having himself an inner struggle as well as an outer one.

"How?" Faith kept one eye on the demon she was trading blows with as she glanced at him. For a moment she saw the wolf within him leaking out but then he was grimacing and clenching his fists even tighter as he forced it back in. "Dude! You've had our best weapon just hidden away all this time?"

"What? What weapon?" Kennedy's back was to them.

"Oz!"

"What's he going to do? He's not even a Slayer."

"No, he's a werewolf!"

"I don't know how much use I'll be," he said through gritted teeth as he ducked back from a demon claw, accidentally smacking heads with Kennedy behind him.

"You'll have big teeth, big claws and about two feet on us so, yeah, I'm thinking useful."

"I'm not fully in control as the wolf and werewolves are pretty territorial."

"Good to know. This is your territory, now start defending it like you mean it," Faith said encouragingly.

"It's not his territory," Kennedy said. "It's ours. He doesn't live here."

"Fine. Kennedy, you turn into a werewolf and clear these demons out. I don't care who does it, but someone has to do it before we all get killed." That made Kennedy fall into a grumpy silence. "Thank you. Now, Oz, get your wolf on, man."

"I can't."

"Why the hell not?" Faith was getting frustrated with him, well with everything, now.

He didn't want to have to say it but obviously the heat of battle wasn't helping them pick up on his subtle hints. "Because if I change I'll have a bigger enemy here than the demons."

"Who?" Faith demanded.

Kennedy got there quicker, muttering, "Damn right you have."

"What? Kennedy? Oh, come on! You ain't scratchin' at her legs now are you? You'll be fine."

"Like this I know why things are the way they are between us." His left foot slipped as he tried to kick in a demon's kneecap with his right and he almost went down. Faith dragged him back upright. "As the wolf I just see a rival I need to defeat. And considering I'm drunk right now, possibly hump too."

Kennedy half turned around, anger and revulsion plain in her tone. "Don't even try it, dog-boy!"

"Kennedy." Faith slapped her shoulder to get her to turn back around. "Demons."

"I think it would cause more problems than it would solve," Oz panted calmly.

Faith's arm was still outstretched from slapping Kennedy and she had half an ear on what Oz was saying and at just that moment her right foot slipped just a little bit down the muddy hill, just enough for her to wave her blocking arm about for balance. All of those factors combined was the only reason the lizard demon got in a lucky swipe – although in the back of her mind she consoled herself with the knowledge that it definitely would have happened to one of them sooner or later anyway – and four sharp claws tore clothes and skin from the left side of her waist, diagonally across her lower abdomen and groin to her opposite thigh.

She yelled at the pain, almost unbearable in the more tender regions, and fell back against both Oz and Kennedy. Kennedy grabbed her easily, holding her upright until she found her balance but soon realised that Faith was having trouble putting weight on her right leg now.

"Crap."

"Just give me a sec," Faith said, wincing.

They didn't have a sec though. While Kennedy was holding Faith up they were both defenceless, leaving Oz they're strongest fighter and he was _not_ they're strongest fighter.

At least…not this shape.

"Osbourne, I think the balance just tipped and we've got more problems now than you could cause, so…change." When he just looked at her, unsure, Kennedy yelled it again. "Change!"

With a noise that started off a yell but became a growl halfway through and a painful-looking all over body-shudder, Oz transformed into something hella hairy and scary. The werewolf snuffled the air, its sharp eyes flicking from one to the next of the attacking lizards and then its head slowly swung around to focus on Kennedy. A deep, menacing growl started to rumble low in its throat.

"Crap!" Faith and Kennedy said at the same time.

* * *

"Release her!" The small but powerful shout echoed around the shed. "Watcher, close the door now! Timsaw, light!"

Giles pushed Xander to one side so that he could reach back and slam the door shut behind them. It left them all in pitch darkness until slowly a lantern made from a jam jar full of fire flies rose up to the ceiling on twine.

The Mawther walked forward, her shadow looming on the walls several times bigger than she was. "Just Buffy, you and your kin have been gone a long while."

Buffy sat up, brushing down her jumper. "Actually, funny story…"

"Funny?" Xander asked incredulously behind her.

"Okay, just story. We haven't been gone that long. We're from the past. Not as cool as being from the future, but there ya go."

Beryan took that in her stride with a nod. "Then you have picked an unfortunate time to visit."

Xander helped Willow down next to Buffy and then knelt beside her. "We're not here by choice. Willow's sick."

"I can see that. She's green."

"Yeah, well you're purple," Willow returned weakly.

Beryan smiled. "A spell?"

Giles sat down on the other side of Buffy. He was too agitated for sitting comfortably but it was just easier to talk to the seven inch woman this way.

"Yes, a Chaotic Nerve spell. Willow started teleporting every time she sneezed about forty-eight hours ago."

"A little longer than that actually," Willow said.

"And for the past twenty-four hours we've been skipping across time, space and dimensions with her."

"I see."

From outside came a loud scream quickly followed by the thud-thud of two crossbow bolts burying themselves in the wood. All heads except Beryan's turned to the noise.

Beryan walked to Willow, and then scaled her, grabbing handfuls of her pajamas to pull herself up until she was balancing on her shoulder. She pulled Willow's head around by hooking her fingers into a nostril and with her other hand pulled her lower eyelids down one at a time to look in her eyes.

"Hey!" Willow complained softly, and the pixie took the opportunity to grab her upper lip and hold it out of the way while she pulled out her tongue to inspect it.

"You are far down the path, child. Did I not warn you what careless use of your magick could lead too?"

"Actually, it's my fault. I asked her to use the magick," Giles admitted.

"That does not surprise me, Watcher." Beryan jumped back down to the ground. "But it is always Willow's responsibility in the end. She should have said no."

"I did!"

"Yes, she did," Giles said softly. "But there were demons."

"And now, thanks to your meddling, there are more demons." Beryan waved a hand at the battle going on outside the walls.

"Look, enough with the lecture," said Buffy. "Willow's really sick and so we're stuck here regardless of the reason. Can you help us make her better or not?"

"All nerve spells reach a point where they can not be undone because of the bond the magick makes with the physiology of the infected."

"And I'm past that point," Willow asked, scared.

"I do not think so, but I fear you are very close."

"Then help her," Xander said through gritted teeth.

"We do not have the kind of ingredients needed to reverse such a powerful spell and my scouts tell me that your own magical supplies have been severely depleted in your wizard's attempts to protect the camp."

"Our Wizard?" Giles wondered.

Buffy spoke over him. "No, Giles had all the stuff he needed delivered a year ago and Faith just said they kept all of our stuff. In boxes in the basement. The ingredients have to be in one of them."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Beryan asked, waving at the door.

"We can't risk being seen by our future friends," Giles said, his voice still coming out firm and non-negotiable despite his increasing worry over Willow. "It could affect the very stability of the universe."

"No it could not," Beryan said with just as much certainty.

"I think you'll find…"

"I think you have a very grand opinion of yourself, Watcher, if you think the fate of the universe is dependant on your actions, but that does not surprise me."

"We can't anyway," Xander said, getting even more impatient. "Willow's too weak to go rooting through the basement and we can't leave her in case she sneezes."

"Please," Willow begged. "Won't you help us?"

The Mawther looked around at the pixies assembled behind her and then back to them. "I'm sorry. We have already lost a great number of our clan because of the troubles and tonight it would be…"

"Please!" Buffy said. "We don't have any other options. And the only way we can get home and stop all of this from happening to us, and you, is if Willow gets better."

"Actually that may not be true…" Giles began, once Willow was better she might lose the ability to time travel altogether.

"One problem at a time, Giles!" Buffy snapped and then turned firm but imploring eyes back on the little pixie leader. "Please. Help us so we can help you not lose your people."

Beryan sighed but nodded. "Timsaw, take your team to the basement to-wance. Tear apart the boxes and bring all the ingredients you find."

"But, Mawther, it wull bae puar maadyness…"

"Timsaw, I gave you a direct charge. Do you fail me?"

"Naw, Mawther."

Eight of the pixies broke ranks and left the woodshed, although the door never opened so how they got out was a mystery. A tense silence remained behind as everyone settled down to wait for them to get back. It made the fight right outside seem all the worse and all but Beryan winced at the screams and shouts and strange hissing noises that marked its ferocity.

* * *

Oz's growl had started off a low rumble but it was getting louder and growlier the longer he stared at Kennedy.

"Down, boy," Faith said as soothingly as possible.

She doubted it would do much good. She was already pretty sure that whatever part of Oz that was still in there was already telling himself that. It was probably the only reason he hadn't pounced yet, and maybe the fact that she was in front of Kennedy. Although there was a chance she was thinking a little too highly of Oz's feelings for her there. He'd gone for her once before back in the day, and even if he was fifty percent domesticated now the shit going on around them had to have him crazy on edge.

"Ken, submit to him!" She said when the idea struck her. You never knew, it might work.

"I am not backing down to him!"

"Think about it? He's just basically a big dog right?" Oz's growl got louder. "Okay, not a dog, forget I said dog! But the principles the same. You don't have to mean it but if he thinks he's won he might stop feeling the urge to tear you limb from limb!"

"He's a werewolf, not stupid!"

It was probably the nicest thing Kennedy had ever said about him but Oz still took offence. With barely any visible effort the muscles in the werewolf's powerful hind legs bunched and then he was in the air, pouncing straight at them.

Faith and Kennedy both yelled and it wasn't really clear who dived and who slipped but they both ended up landing in the mix of mud and soggy leaves, half rolling, half sliding a good way down the slope together.

A sharp hiss was cut off with an undignified yelping noise that no self-respecting reptile should make and when they finally came to a stop both slayers looked up the slope to see what had caused it. It had been Oz tearing a demon lizard into pieces. As they watched, he did it to another one. It was cool. Gross, but cool.

"Okay, maybe we over-reacted," Faith admitted, a little embarrassed.

"Speak for yourself; it wasn't you he was giving the stink eye." Kennedy defended her own scaredy cat squeal and awkwardly got back to her feet. "Come on, let's try and take a few out from behind while he has them distracted."

"Yeah, 'bout that."

Faith had already tried to get up. Her injured thigh was having none of it and she still kinda wanted to cry over the pain in her groin. She knew without having to see it that there was probably almost as much blood on her top as mud and ever since they'd tumbled down the slope she was feeling dizzy, never a good sign, especially when blood loss might be the reason.

It was what it was though and trying not to feel ashamed about it she admitted, "I don't think I can stand right now."

"Okay," Kennedy said slowly, clearly trying not to sound as panicked as she suddenly looked. "Are you…? I mean, how bad…? Are you going to be alright?"

"It's not so bad, I'll be fine," Faith said, downplaying how bad it really felt. "I just don't trust my leg to take my weight, not on this slope and all. But you get in there, help Oz out."

"And leave you as a sitting duck to get picked off when my back's turned? No way, I could never live with myself, Buffy would kill me."

"And you're not worried what Red will say if Oz gets toasted by the ten demons he's taking on alone?"

"No," Kennedy smiled grimly. "That I can live with."

She turned though, so she could keep Faith in sight and watch Oz fight. He seemed to be enjoying himself as demon after demon fell to his teeth and claws.

* * *

Everyone except Willow, who seemed to be beyond it now, perked up as seven pixies ran back into the centre of the woodshed.

"What happened?" Beryan demanded, seeing they had returned empty-handed and a pixie short.

Timsaw bowed before his leader, "Gruflin was lorst, Mawther."

"Lost?"

"Eaten," said another of the little people hysterically. "Snatched in the jaws of one of the cold-blooded beasts, Mawther!"

"So you didn't even bother going to the basement!" Buffy felt hysterical too.

She'd have to make the run herself now and just hope hard that Willow didn't sneeze. She hadn't in hours. It was as if her body was just too weak to make the effort now.

Furious, the pixie leader took a run and jump, caught hold of Buffy's hair in both hands and swung forward, head-butting her between the eyes, and _Ye Gods_ did that hurt!

Buffy swayed backwards as Beryan shouted, "Wee haave lorst wan orv oor oown tring ta hell yew an thaat iss haw yew speek tow theem!"

Buffy wrapped her fist around Beryan's middle and yanked her away, losing some strands of hair in the process but before she could shout back or apologise, possibly a mixture of both, Timsaw was speaking again.

"We went to tha basement an took apart oll of thee bauxes. There war naw spell-parts in theem."

"But Faith said…"

Timsaw cut her off. "Wee looked haard. Wee did nawt want Gruflin's sacrifice to be hollow."

"Oh." She turned to Giles helplessly. "Now what do we do?"

He was cleaning his glasses. On her other side Xander was holding Willow close, she was shivering now and occasionally coughing out little puffs of apricot-coloured steam. None of them apparently had an answer.

Beryan was still hanging in Buffy's fist, forgotten until she started tugging on the sleeve of her jumper.

"Whose blood is this?"

Buffy looked down at the little red blotch on her cuff. "Uh, Faith's. Her nose was bleeding when I spoke to her. Why?" she asked irritably.

"Let me down, Just Buffee."

Buffy just opened her hand, not caring about the foot and half drop to the ground. Beryan landed lightly on her feet anyway and began to issue more instructions to her lieutenants.

She spoke fast and her accent was still strong with anger but Buffy caught the occasional words. 'Personal stash', for example, and 'Sarf tunnel'.

Only three of the pixies detached and left the shed this time. Beryan didn't watch them leave or give anyone time to question where they were going before barking more instructions.

"Willow, yew must sit up straight."

"Okay." There was a pause where nothing happened. "Am I sitting up yet?"

Beryan pointed at Xander. "Yew, boy, help her."

Xander bristled at being called 'boy' but did as he was told. Sitting so that his legs were either side of Willow's hips and Willow's back was against his chest.

"Yew, Watcher, sit behind him. Try nawt to meddle."

Giles moved as he asked, "What exactly are you planning to try?"

"That is meddling," Beryan said dismissively. "Just Buffee…"

"Stop calling me that!"

"When yew get home yew can give me a reason to stop and then I will not call yew it now. Until then, take Willow's hand and wait fore me."

"Willow, I know there are probably clangings in yew head, but yew must listen…"

"It sounds just like an old fashioned telephone. Ring ring, ring, r---, r--- r---."

"I'm not the only one who heard that, right?" Xander tried not to instinctively lean back from Willow.

"No," Buffy confirmed, "Will definitely just rang exactly like a telephone."

"Tickled," Willow complained.

"But cool," Xander tried to keep her spirits up. "Can you do the Nokia ring tone too?"

"Stop," said Beryan, cutting through their meagre merriment. "You must pay attention." Her pixies came back into the shed then, carrying several baggies of herbs and spices between them. She nodded to them and then turned to Willow again. "I cannot cure you, but I can send you home. The blood on this clothing will act as a pull through time to its source."

"But its source is right outside," Buffy pointed out. "How does that help?"

Beryan gave her a look that explained in no uncertain terms that Buffy was stupid, but didn't explain anything else.

Willow seemed to trust her anyway, but croaked, "I'm too weak to do that kind of magick. I can't control it."

"No, but I can. You just need to be the force behind it. Once you are back in the past you must hurry to where you have left the ingredients. Waste no time for you have very little to spare. Now, give me forty-five ticks to prepare and I will send you home. And please, when you get there, do whatever is necessary to change our fates."

Buffy looked at her friends, reaching back awkwardly with the hand not holding Willow's to pat Xander's arm, offering Giles a smile that was hopefully more reassuring than terrified and murmuring to Willow, "Nearly there, Will, just hang on. This will all be over soon." And hoping like hell she was telling the truth.

If Beryan got it wrong and they ended up somewhere else completely, or even worse, still stuck here, Buffy knew it would be game over. It wasn't even pessimism, just fact. If Willow's sickness couldn't be cured and she…died, even if by some miracle they made it home another way, she knew it would still be over for the three of them that remained. It was one for all, or all for nothing.

"We're like the three musketeers," she whispered.

There was a beat of silence before Xander whispered, "There's four of us."

"Buffy's d'Artagnan," Willow said softly and suddenly all four of them were wearing red cavalier hats.

"Exactly." Buffy tried to grin.

"If only we had the swords to match," Giles whispered dryly.

Just as suddenly they all had swords. There was another beat of silence.

"Uh, Willow," said Buffy, looking at her sword. "These are made of plastic."

"Well don't blame me. I'm not doing any of this intentionally."

"Well that's reassuring," Giles said, making Xander giggle.

Beryan turned back to them. "I am ready."

* * *

Faith had made it to her knees. The pain was still intense but with an arm held low over her belly she could handle it. She was trying to get to her feet but that was still an uphill struggle, literally.

She was trying though because a minute ago the tables had turned on Oz. There were only four demons now but one of them had managed to sink its claws deep into the werewolf's back. After an initial high-pitched yelp of pain it didn't seem to be hurting him too much but it was pinning him to the spot and the rest of the lizards were starting to brave getting mauled to run in close and attack his front.

Kennedy had moved closer as soon as he had been stabbed but was holding back. Weaponless she was still only half the fighter Oz was right now – as much as that burned her! – but when one of the butt-ugly reptiles took a massive swing at his chest, claw-marks filling and overflowing with blood instantly, she gave a shout and leapt forward.

She jump-kicked the demon that had inflicted the damage, sending him flying to skid up the slope on his side, but her feet slipped out from under her as she landed and she went down hard on her knees in front of Oz.

Faith saw what was about to happen next and tried to jump up but she just fell straight back down. Oz howled but he couldn't move and his long arms couldn't quite reach.

"No!" Faith screamed as a lizard-demon's sharper than sharp claws came down hard to slice through the back of Kennedy's neck.

And then there was a sound like 'BLIP' and a grey plastic sword was being swung upwards on instinct. It did exactly zero damage but caught the paw between the second and third claws, knocking it off target and giving Kennedy the split-second chance to roll backwards out of the way.

As Faith watched, Xander struggled for the upper hand, keeping the sword between the demon's claws and trying to dodge its other swiping paw until he eventually, accidentally, pushed it close enough to Oz that the werewolf was able to rip its lizard head clean from its shoulders.

"Hey, look what I did!" Xander said triumphantly, until he realised he was talking to a growling, foaming-at-the-mouth werewolf and then he back-pedalled, holding the sword out in front of him.

"It's Oz," Willow called. She was on the ground too, looking almost as shit as Faith felt, although to be fair, the witch was a hell of a lot greener.

"Yeah, but does he know that?" Xander called back.

"Give me that!" Kennedy tried to grab his weapon.

Xander held it over his head as if that would stop a slayer. "No, get your own plastic sword!"

"Xander!" As he turned and smacked an approaching demon across the throat with it, making it stumble back, Kennedy obviously decided that he'd earned his right to keep it. "Will?" she asked instead.

Willow chucked her the sword she was carrying. It landed only a foot away from her prone body. Not bothered, Kennedy ran over and scooped it up before using what minimal force it provided on the remaining lizards.

Buffy had already been busy. Ignoring everything else as soon as they arrived – from wherever the hell they had arrived from – to tackle the demon who had its claws in Oz's back. It was as pinned as the werewolf, unable to retract its claws because to do so would free the beast ripping them to shreds. Buffy was making the most of that, not even bothering with the stabby end of the plastic sword but just using every ounce of strength she had to beat the thing into submission with it.

From Faith's point of view it was hot. From the demon's point of view it was hell. When Giles turned to put his boot into the lizard's soft underbelly – his own sword plunged deep into the mouth of another slowly choking demon – it finally caved and fell back and in one smooth motion Oz twirled on the spot and turned it into several separate reptilian pieces.

The fight didn't last much longer. The Scoobies and Kennedy had beaten the remaining demons down and Oz made easy work of finishing them off. Faith smiled in relief and slumped further to the ground but kept her head up to see what would happen next.

Kennedy automatically went to rush to Willow's side, but hearing Oz's low growl stopped and turned to him.

"She's injured!"

"I'm not, I'm okay, I'm just sick," Willow called over weakly and to demonstrate vomited something yellow and smoking onto the mud in front of her.

"You can't help her like that!" Kennedy shouted when Oz continued to growl at her.

The werewolf looked around at his torn and tattered clothes caked in mud and demon guts, looking as indecisive as a werewolf was able to.

It was Giles who got through to him. "Go, Oz. We'll take care of Willow. Wait in the boy's dormitory. Xander will bring you some clothes."

With one last look at Willow, Oz turned and loped away across the slope into the deeper darkness beneath trees.

Kennedy ran to Willow to pick her up gently and all at once there was an even bigger panic on.

"Hurry, Faith," Giles called. "We need to get Willow back to the house immediately."

"Uh, yeah, I'll, uh, join you in a…day or two," she said, grimacing as she made another attempt to get to her feet.

Buffy seemed to finally realise something was wrong with her. "You guys go, we'll catch up."

"Buffy, we need you to do the spell."

"And I'll be right there," she promised as she slipped and slid down the slope to crouch in front of Faith. "What's wrong?"

"Nothin'. I'm fine."

"Yeah, I can see that. What's wrong! Come on, we don't have time for fibs."

"I got…" Faith sighed. "One of the demons got me, B, okay."

"Badly?"

"No, I just almost let Kennedy get decapitated 'cause I don't like her."

Buffy just quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, okay, whatever, kinda badly."

Buffy gently helped her turn over but couldn't see anything in the darkness, not with the mud covering everything too. "Where does it hurt?"

"Stomach, thigh, pussy."

Buffy sucked in a breath at her vulgarity but sighed in amusement immediately afterwards. "Ouch, that's gotta sting."

"Yeah, trust me, it freakin' does."

"Can you stand?"

"Not so far."

Buffy thought for a minute. "Okay, this might hurt, sorry."

"What might?" And then Buffy scooped her up in her arms and Faith yelled, "Owww! Bitch!"

"I missed you too." Buffy grinned at her while moving as swiftly up the slope as possible after the others.

Faith just hoped this was the short cut Kennedy had promised it to be because right now her wounds felt like they had molten lava inside them.

"Missed me? Where the hell ya been anyway?"

"You wouldn't believe me." Buffy's nose wrinkled. "Have you been drinking?"

"Yeah, shit loads. Me, Kenny and Oz got our party on at Barnies to celebrate Thanksgiving."

"What? You've been celebrating while…"

"What did you expect us to do? Sit around waiting for you to get from your little day-trip?"

She could tell Buffy was fuming about something. "You have no idea how tempting it is to drop you on your stinging hoo hoo right now, Faith."

They travelled in silence for a minute before Faith smirked through her pain and asked, "Hoo hoo?"

* * *

Thanks for reading :) All feedback gratefully received.


	19. Act 4:3

Giles looked up from the kettle as Buffy shouldered her way through the back door with Faith in her arms.

"Good Lord, what's wrong now?"

"I got clawed by a demon. Don't feel bad for not realisin' or nothin'," Faith said sarcastically.

Giles didn't seem to catch the intonation as he made his tea quickly. "Well, as long as you're okay. Kennedy has put Willow on her bed and Xander is up there waiting for us. Everything is as we left it, I'm thankful to say."

"And I'm thankful to hear it." Buffy said, before asking Faith, "Chair or bed?"

"Chair." Buffy started to ease her down into one of the kitchen chairs and Faith hissed in pain. "Or bed is good too."

Buffy chuckled, gently hoisting her back up again. "I'll see you up there, Giles."

"I'm right behind you."

Buffy was extra careful taking Faith up the back stairs. Normally it might be fun to bash her head off of the banister a few times – especially since she had spent the day getting drunk while Buffy had been going through hell – but the girl was obviously in a lot of pain; and she couldn't shake the memory of future-Faith crying either.

Faith's bedroom was on the other side of the house and Buffy walked swiftly down the twisty turny corridors. She glanced into Willow's bedroom as they passed it, seeing Willow frail-looking on the bed and Xander and Kennedy hovering around her.

She pushed open the door to Faith's room and realised as she entered that it was the first time she had been in there since the week after Faith had moved in. It was. . .not looking a lot different.

"Where's all your stuff?"

"Huh?" Faith looked around. "Oh, in the closet."

"But where's the rest of it? Surely it doesn't all fit in one cupboard?"

Faith looked around again and shrugged in her arms. "Guess it does. Just put me on top of the covers."

Buffy resisted the urge to just drop her on the bed and set her down gently. "You're getting your comforter all muddy."

"Really not caring."

"Do you think you need…? Do you want me to take a look at, uh. . .?" Buffy waved at Faith's injured parts uncomfortably. Not that the thigh or the waist were problems as such, just…

Reading her mind, Faith leered. "Go make Willow better first. After, if I'm not dead yet, you can come fix my boo boo and cop an ogle then."

Buffy quirked an eyebrow. "Boo boo?"

Faith quirked one right back. "Hoo hoo?"

Buffy gave her a scary grin. "Sometimes I hate you."

Faith gave her an easy smile. "Yeah, I hate you too, babe."

Buffy sighed as she left her too it, wondering if that was really as close as they would be able to come to saying 'the words' for another year.

* * *

"I want to stay for the spell."

"I'm very sorry but as I told you last night, Kennedy, that's not a very good idea," Giles said calmly as he mixed some more of the ingredients.

Thank the Heavens he had ordered more that he had thought he would need or else they would be left trying to work with the sticky mess the last attempt had left in the bowl. Willow was handcuffed to the bed this time too. She might not have sneezed in three hours but he wasn't taking the chance that the smoke from the spell would induce one at the last minute again.

"And look what happened last night when I wasn't here," Kennedy said.

"That's not going to happen again, look," Willow rattled her cuffs to prove her point.

She seemed to be feeling better now she was home but her skin was the colour of stormy grass and her eyes seemed to be rolling independently of one another on an almost continuous basis. At this point Giles wished he had never watched the Exorcist because he kept having visions of her head spinning around; which was far from helpful when everyone was relying on him to keep his nerve.

"Hey, if you wanna be useful," Xander said. "Grab some clothes from my room and take them down to Oz."

Kennedy just glared at him.

"Please, Kennedy," Willow said, both eyes managing to roll her way expectantly.

"Fine!" She stormed out of the room just as Buffy was hurrying in.

"Okay, I think we're ready," Giles said, nodding to Buffy. "So, if everyone takes their places, we'll begin."

* * *

Kennedy had grabbed the biggest pair of jeans she could find in Xander's wardrobe and one of Andrew's Star Wars t-shirts before going down to the boy's dormitory. Typically, Oz wasn't in there anyway.

She found him in the training barn, sitting with his mutt.

Feeling even more irritable that she had had to hunt for him she chucked the clothes his way, and he gave a quiet, "Thanks."

"How's your back?" she asked, not that she really cared.

"Sore, but I have that whole supernatural healing thing. How's Willow?"

"No idea. They didn't let me stay for the spell," her frustration was clear in her voice.

He nodded and then waved the clothes in an awkward gesture for privacy. His lower half was hidden behind his dog at the moment and he obviously didn't want to stand up in front of her.

"Oh, please," she scoffed. "Like you have anything I want to look at."

Shrugging he got to his feet and pulled the pants on. They were miles too big; he had to use a hand to stop them from sliding down his hips.

"Any chance you have a belt?"

She smirked, "Sorry."

Unfazed he unclipped the thin leather dog lead from Ralph's collar and pulled it through the belt loops, cinching it tight around his waist before tying a knot in it. He pulled the t-shirt over his head, looked down at the picture of the Wookie on the front and shrugged again, unbothered.

Jeez, he was annoying. Why couldn't he get pissed that she was messing with him? Shaking off her irritation she turned to leave the barn.

"Can I bring Ralph in now?"

"No."

* * *

The spell was done, Willow was, as far as they knew, cured. It was a great feeling for all of them but Giles had insisted that she have at least an hour of lying quietly in her room alone to regain some of her strength.

So, feeling jazzed that her best friend was going to be okay after all the worry, thrilled that they were finally back home, and immense relief that Kennedy was alive and Faith hadn't sunk into a pit of despair, Buffy found herself bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet outside of Faith's room.

The excited bouncing wasn't actually translating to knocking though. She kept going to and then stopping herself. It was silly, she knew that. For one thing Faith might be really seriously hurt, needing her assistance. For two, she was sort of her girlfriend.

It was that particular thought that was holding her back though. Things had still been really tense between them before Buffy had gone off on her impromptu travels. She wanted this to be the moment they put everything right between them, she just wasn't sure how yet.

Still, she wasn't going to find out hopping from foot to foot out here. She knocked a little too enthusiastically.

"Yeah?" Faith grunted, sounding in a lot of pain.

That was all Buffy needed to open the door and go in. "Hey…whoa!"

Faith had managed to take her top off and push her jeans down until they were just off of her hips. She looked down at herself as Buffy exclaimed loudly and sharply averted her eyes.

"B, you've seen me naked before! Get a grip, would ya?"

"Yeah, sorry." Buffy cut her eyes to Faith for a second but still wouldn't look at her properly. "How are you doing?"

"I don't think I'm gonna die but this is hella freakin' painful." Faith grimaced as she tried to push the tight pants even further down her thighs. "Been trying to get my clothes off so I can check the damage but I think I've hit a wall. How's Willow?"

"We did the spell. She should be okay but Giles said we need to wait a little while to be sure. She's resting now." Buffy fidgeted nervously before making a decision and walking over to the bed. "Let me help."

"Thought you were never gonna offer." Faith slumped stiffly back against her pillows.

"Didn't think you liked needing help?" Buffy muttered as she took hold of the waist band of Faith's jeans and gently eased them down her legs.

"There's a difference between needing help and _needing_…help… Okay, I guess there ain't."

Jeans down to her knees, Buffy looked at her curiously. "You okay?"

"Took a bunch of painkillers after you left." Faith grinned. "Think they're finally kicking in." Buffy jerked the wet, mud-caked jeans down to her ankles. "Ow! Not helping with the actual pain though."

"Oops, sorry. Nearly done." Buffy pulled the pants carefully off of her feet. "There. Oh!"

She'd meant her eyes to go straight up to Faith's face, not really ready to see her in her underwear just yet however irrational that might, but they stopped on her panties when she realised the white cotton was dark red with blood.

Faith looked down at herself again. "Yeah. I think the bleeding stopped, just feels tacky now."

"Uh huh." Buffy forced herself to go into medical mode – and not, 'ooh Faith's panties!' mode.

Her stomach had stopped bleeding too but the red gash across it looked wicked nasty still. Her thigh was still leaking a little blood, probably thanks to the removal of her jeans, but it wasn't enough to indicate anything arterial had been hit.

"Okay, try not to move around so you don't re-open anything. I'll be back in a minute."

She left Faith's bedroom and went to the communal bathroom just down the hall. There were bandages and stuff in there. It wasn't as well equipped as Giles store room inside his office – which looked like a hospital had thrown up its guts in there – but it had what she needed. She took the time to fill the small bucket kept under the sink with warm water too.

She bumped into Xander in the hall. He looked down at the stuff she was carrying and then back up in concern.

"Where's the medical emergency?"

"Faith. One of those lizard demons sliced her up pretty good."

"Oh God. Is she okay? Do you need a hand?"

She thought about Faith in her panties. "No, I've got it. She's fine, just…sore and stuff."

Xander nodded. "Kennedy and Oz are waiting downstairs."

Buffy smiled. "You should probably get down there then. Before there's even more bloodshed."

"Actually, I think they're just wondering when dinner is going to be ready."

She gave him a stern look. "That better not be the only reason you're talking to me too."

He held his hands up defensively. "No way. I'm thinking we order pizza."

She smiled again. "Let me see to Faith and then we'll work something out foodwise."

He nodded and walked away down the corridor. She watched him go for a second and then went back to Faith's bedroom. Faith looked half asleep when she opened the door.

"I'm back." She put the bucket and other supplies down on the bedside cabinet.

Faith opened her eyes. "Yeah?"

"How many of those tablets did you take?"

"Not enough to kill me…unfortunately." She shifted a little on the bed, winced, and decided lying still was better. "So what did you bring me?"

"Warm water and bandages."

"Oh, B, you really know how to treat a girl right."

"Well, I was gonna go and pick you some flowers too but I was worried you might bleed to death before you could appreciate my effort."

Faith laughed quietly. "I'm just glad you came back."

Her words made Buffy think of the future, literally, and she looked away for a moment, remembering future-Faith's crying again. How would the other slayer react now if she told her about that? She would probably deny it. If she gave it a moment's thought at all with all the painkillers she had taken.

Buffy started with her stomach. A little mud had leaked beneath her top but mostly it was just blood to deal with. Once that was clean she applied the heavy duty antiseptic cream and then gently patted a wide swatch of gauze over the wound. Using the spare face cloth she had brought in she tenderly dried the area around the gauze before taping it down firmly.

Faith watched her through heavy-lidded eyes and gave her a dopey smile as Buffy looked up from her handy work. "Nice job."

Buffy nodded but said, "That was the easy one."

She moved onto her thigh next and after wiping it clean and checking it to make sure it wasn't worst than she'd first thought, she repeated the process of delicately applying the cool cream with her fingertips and dressing the wound securely.

She looked up at Faith nervously. "I have to…uh."

"I know."

"You don't mind?"

"You taking off my underwear? Kinda been hoping and praying for it for a while now, B."

As Faith grinned, Buffy gave her an embarrassed smile. "Not quite how I was planning our first…uh, next time to be though. You know, with the blood and all."

"But you have been planning it?" Faith sounded quietly surprised.

"Not really planning it, no." Faith's face dropped a little. "More just thinking about it. A lot." Faith grinned again. "Ready for some time way in the future when you stop being an idiot." Faith's face went neutral.

"Just take my damn panties off, B, before my pussy bleeds out."

"Stop using that word."

"Why? Does it shock you?"

Buffy looked down at Faith's blood-soaked underpants with a grim smile, feeling her cheeks grow hot with her blush.

"It doesn't shock me. It's just…" She hooked her fingers into the waistband of the panties. "…there are nicer words."

"What would you prefer? Bajingo? Lady Flower?"

Not answering, Buffy gingerly started pulling down the underwear.

"Oh, sorry, forgot. Hoo hoo's your fave, right?" Faith was smirking.

"Are you going to be teasing me about my poor word choice forever?" Buffy griped.

Faith's smirk dropped into a gentle, if drugged up, smile. "Hopefully."

Buffy smiled bashfully in response. Sometimes Faith got it exactly right. So why couldn't she always?!

Again choosing not to answer, she concentrated on what she was doing. She watched the slow passage of Faith's panties as she eased them down her thighs, over her knees, along her shins to her ankles and then off of her feet because she still wasn't quite ready to look at the area she'd left uncovered yet.

"B," Faith said softly when she was still just looking at the underwear now in her hands.

"Huh?" She looked up, dropping them self-consciously. "Okay…I'm okay."

"Never said you weren't, but I'm not used to being the only one practically naked in the room."

"Really?" Buffy knew she sounded surprised as she busied herself moving the bucket and grabbing more gauze to avoid looking at where she had to look.

"Yeah. What'd ya think I usually do? Give shows?"

"No, it's just…" Buffy plunged the wash cloth into the bowl to rinse it and then wrung it out. "I know you're way more experienced than me," she added in a fast mumble.

Faith laughed and then cringed when it made the slash on her stomach hurt. "Is that what's been holding you back? 'Cause, babe, the two times we've done it, we've been pretty evenly matched. Last time, if anything, I was keeping up with you."

Buffy blushed again but also smiled a little at that knowledge.

"'Course, I'd hardly had any sleep for a week, put me a little off my game, but still."

Buffy grinned now. "Always the charmer."

"I'm pretty sure I can be more charming when my pu—hoo hoo ain't throbbing like a bitch."

Buffy smirked, "Don't say hoo hoo. You manage to make it sound dirty."

Faith sighed. "Can't freakin' win. Would you just…"

"I'm on it," Buffy promised.

It wasn't so bad, she told herself. To look, that was. Faith's legs were nearly together and the demon's claw had sliced her high up-ish. It wasn't so…

Okay, it totally was! It might not have been the sexiest of situations but that was Faith's hoo… that was Faith's _pussy! _And it was all just…there! And she had to touch it!

Buffy took a deep, calming breath and wiggled her fingers a little to get the tension out of them before picking up the wash cloth again. It was no good; she had to come up with a conversation to take her mind off of what she was doing.

"Anyway, that's not what's been holding me back."

She squeezed the cloth over Faith's…girl-part…and watched the water dribble down. She was just trying to wet the blood caked in her pubic hair, it really shouldn't be hot! She averted her eyes, just for a second while she got control of her weird and disturbing emotions again.

"So what? You don't trust me?"

"I trust you, I…" Buffy squeezed the cloth over her again. "No, okay, I don't trust you."

Wincing, Faith sat herself up. "B, I help you save the world. I did my damn time! What else…"

"Faith, its not _you_ I don't trust. It's…" She started to rub the cloth around the wound. "It's just…you!"

Faith slumped back against the pillows, one arm going over her eyes, her other hand coming up to hover over the bandage on her stomach as she winced again.

"Great, you almost managed to not blame me for something!"

"I guess I meant us, more than you." Buffy rinsed the cloth again and dabbed it gently over the cut. "The thought of us being together, you know _like that_, again, is great, really it is, but what if we do it a bunch more times and then…"

"And then?"

"And then you…or we…I don't know," she finished awkwardly.

She didn't really feel comfortable having this conversation when she was doing this. Actually, she probably wouldn't feel comfortable having this conversation even if Faith was fully dressed and they were doing something mundane like staking vampires.

"You think you're going to get bored of me, B?"

"No, I don't," she said, looking up quickly. "Not at all."

"I don't think I'm gonna get bored of you either."

"That's nice." The wound was as clean as it was going to get but Buffy kept pressing the cloth over and around it. "But what if…?"

"Buffy, just spit it out already!"

"Relationships go wrong! Mine especially. We have one argument and you barely speak to me for weeks. You get thralled by Dracula and I'm the one who can't think straight. You won't open up to me and I don't know how to make you. I'm insanely jealous of the ten year old you were forced to share a prison cell with. In fact, I think I'm just insane period. I nearly retroactively killed Angel for you last night and what do I get in return, huh? You're not even worried about me! You're just boozing it up at Barnies all day!"

"Hey! Ow ow ow!" Faith sat up painfully to slap Buffy's hands away from her. "Go freakin' easy down there! I'm not up to playing rough today."

Buffy pulled the cloth away. She hadn't meant to take her distress out on Faith's injuries, especially not that one. Blood had started to trickle from it again, mixing with the water dripping between her legs.

"Sorry. I just wanted to make sure it was clean," she lied.

Faith settled back again. "You saw Angel last night?"

She had tried to ask that question casually but there had been a hint of suspicion there. Buffy sighed; at least she wasn't the only one with the jealousy issues.

"Not exactly. I met Liam."

"Who?"

"It's not important right now." She refolded the dry cloth and held it lightly over the wound to stop the bleeding.

"Then what is?" Faith asked.

"What if we don't fit?" she mumbled.

"What if we don't…? What do you mean?"

"It took you a week of living on the streets to decide whether you wanted to give us a chance. What if it took you that long because deep down you knew you didn't."

"I came back, didn't I?"

"Well, yeah, eventually, but you _were _living on the streets. I imagine forcing yourself to go through with this charade of being with me for a little while was a price worth paying for a warm bed and regular meals."

"You think I'm pretending to like you 'cause I got hungry?" Faith asked incredulously.

The bleeding had stopped. Buffy removed the cloth and picked up the antiseptic cream, unscrewing the cap slowly.

"No. I think you're pretending to like me because winter is coming and. . . and if it had been summer when you were released maybe it would have taken you even longer to decide if I was something you wanted. . . or not."

"Really?" Faith's total confounded disbelief made her voice go higher than Buffy had ever heard before.

"No! Of course not! I don't know!" Buffy shouted back to her. "This was a conversation I wanted to have weeks ago but you didn't want to talk and now I'm rubbing cream onto your hoopussything and. . . and, I just don't know whether we're meant to be in a relationship or if we're both just victims of being hot chicks with superpowers whose Slayer hormones get all bouncy when they're in a six foot radius of each other, Faith, okay? I don't. . . I don't. . . Are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, sure. Keeping doing it." Faith's eyes were closed, her lips parted in a blissful little smile. "The talking thing I mean, keep going. Don't stop. I'm listening, babe."

Buffy looked down. She was still smoothing the cream over the wound. Okay, her fingers may have strayed a little in her tirade but not by that much.

"Oh, for God's sake! I'm not even touching anything that good!"

"Feels pretty damn good to me."

"See! Hormones!" Teeth clenched, Buffy recapped the tube of cream and set it aside.

Faith opened her eyes again now the rubbing had stopped. "Okay, let's just cut to the chase. What do I need to do to prove I ain't just here for the warm bed and three square?"

Buffy placed the gauze over the slice and stuck it down with tape – lots of tape. Faith would be in pube-pulling agony when she tried to take it off again. Buffy smirked as she imagined offering to rip it off quick like a band aid.

"I shouldn't have to tell you."

"No. Fuck that bullshit," Faith said adamantly, half sitting up again. "I've never been in a proper relationship before, Buffy. Never wanted to be either."

"Well, thanks for being honest." Buffy started to huffily pack the first aid supplies into a pile.

"Until now! So, yeah, you tell me I'm screwing it up, I'm not surprised, but if you want me to learn better you gotta give me some help."

Buffy's anger disappeared as she read the seriousness of the plea in Faith's eyes. It was probably only because of the drugs but that didn't make it any less powerful.

"Well, I suppose you could start by doing something to actually show you want to be with me."

Faith waggled her eyebrows and patted the bed beside her. "Come a little closer and I can do that right now, babe."

"Something not to do with sex, Faith!" Buffy scooped the stuff up and stormed out of the room.

"I was. . ." The bedroom door slammed and Faith rolled her eyes. ". . .just joking. Damn!"

* * *

_Tbc... Thanks for reading :)_


	20. Act 4:4

Willow's face was still a little green but after trying and failing to cover it with face powder she decided to just go with the environmentally friendly look. It wasn't like everyone hadn't already seen her looking like Kermit's twin sister. She shuddered at the thought of being related to her nemesis – talking frogs shouldn't be allowed to live.

Nearly everyone was in the kitchen. Kennedy and Oz were tidying up what was left of the mess from the day before while Buffy was banging cupboards and taking her frustration out on her spare ingredients. Xander was standing off to one side, trying not to get in the way as he sipped from a bottle of beer. Some things didn't change.

"Hey, Will, you're up!" he called cheerfully. "Feeling better?"

Okay, some things did change.

She smiled, wary, not used to such enthusiastic greetings lately. "I guess so."

"Great. I've got a job for you."

"You have?"

"Yup. I think Buffy might be a lost cause but could you please do something about the tension between these two before the room explodes?" He waved his beer between Kennedy and Oz.

She frowned. That wasn't what she was expecting and not something she wanted to deal with. She was even surer of it when they both turned to her expectantly, like all she had to do was wave a magic wand and make it all better.

Oh, she probably could do that again now. She forced herself not to follow that train of thought – but where was the teleport-y sneezing when you actually needed it?

"Why all the tension?"

"He wants to bring his giant mutt in here," Kennedy explained.

"Oh." If her ego was honest, she hadn't been expecting that either. "So?"

"He freaks Goorzie out."

"He's been on his own in the training barn all afternoon," Oz said. "If he can't come in, I'll have to take him home."

Kennedy waved. "See ya."

Ignoring her, Willow smiled. "Of course he can come in. He shouldn't spend Thanksgiving out there alone."

Kennedy glared. "He really scared Goorzie earlier, Will, and she has more right to be in here than his stupid dog does."

"Did you try properly introducing them?" Xander asked. He shrugged when they turned to him. "You know, like with cats and dogs. Fido meet Whiskers, Whiskers meet Fido – no more scratched puppy eyes or broken china in my aunt's house."

"You think it's that easy?" Kennedy obviously didn't.

"We won't know unless we try." Willow wondered why she had added the 'we' in that sentence because it had sounded almost like she was volunteering herself to help.

"So let's try." Oz handed his dish cloth to Xander and walked to the back door.

"Fine but when it doesn't work your dog stays in the barn." Kennedy took hold of Goorzar's paw and joined him.

They both looked to Willow.

"Oh boy."

They could hear whining from halfway across the lawn. The baby demon scaled Kennedy's body to her shoulders, gibbering nervously.

Oz went in first, fending Ralph off as he excitedly jumped up and encouraging him deeper into the barn as Willow flicked on all of the overhead lights. After they were all in Willow pulled the door closed so that Goorzar couldn't escape.

Kennedy stood just inside the door with her arms folded. "This isn't going to work."

Willow sighed, looking from Goorzar – who looked petrified – to Ralph – who was sitting behind Oz's legs, and whining – and started to doubt it herself.

"Perhaps if I hold her," Oz began.

"No," Kennedy said simply.

Willow ran a hand over her face. She didn't feel sick at all now, but she was still too tired for this. "Okay, why don't we try it the other way around? Kenny, you make a fuss of Ralph?"

Kennedy hesitated but eventually said, "No" again.

"You don't like dogs?" Willow asked in surprise. Kennedy always seemed like a dog person.

"No, I do. Just…" Kennedy glanced at Oz and then looked away.

Willow had had enough. This had stopped being about Goorzie. It was about Kennedy's attitude and she wasn't giving in to it. She had been to hell and back in the last forty-eight hours and all she wanted now was for everyone to play nice so that she could go inside and relax. Food would be good too. Her appetite had finally returned and her stomach was reminding her she hadn't eaten much of anything for a day at least.

She mustered up her tried and tested resolve-face and aimed it at Kennedy.

"I'll take Goorzie." She held her arms out, but the demon wouldn't come to her willingly. "You'll have to give her to me."

Kennedy stared at her for a moment and then turned away. Willow thought she was going to leave but instead she walked around the far side of the trampoline and started to whisper to the demon on her back, giving her a little pep-talk.

"If she starts to freak out get her to bounce. It'll distract her."

Kennedy handed Goorzar over. The demon grunted and made quiet squealing sounds of displeasure, but when it was clear she had no choice her long arms clung tightly to Willow's neck. She rubbed her back soothingly, trying to get her to relax the almost asphyxiating hold.

"Oh, but don't tell Buffy about it," Kennedy added as she kissed Goorzar on the forehead. "Auntie Buffy doesn't like you touching her toys, does she?"

"Atie Buvvy, bad gurl," Goorzar rasped, making Willow chuckle.

"Okay, here goes." Kennedy walked briskly towards Oz and dropped to her knees. "Hey, Ralph, here boy."

The big dog peered around Oz's waist and whined. Willow held Goorzar firmly as she began to get anxious.

Kennedy was getting frustrated with slapping her thighs, calling out 'here, boy' and holding her arms out to a dog who refused to stop hiding. Oz eventually had to kneel down too and half-drag Ralph out from behind him.

"Ralph, meet Kennedy. Offer your paw."

The dog whined but held up his right paw.

Kennedy stared at it. "Am I supposed to…?"

"Yeah."

Kennedy took the paw in her hand – it was actually bigger than her hand – and shook it gently.

Goorzar's watchful stare was intense but she was being quiet and still. As Kennedy leaned forward to rub her hand up and down the dog's chest and neck, she began bouncing lightly on her haunches. In seconds she was gibbering and grunting and trying to break free of Willow's arms.

"Get on the trampoline with her," Kennedy said without looking around.

Kicking off her sneakers she clambered inelegantly onto the trampoline. It wasn't easy keeping hold of the jumping baby at the same time. Once upright she took both of Goorzar's paws.

"Hey, sweetie, bounce with me."

Goorzar did as she was told, reluctantly. She still craned her neck at an awkward angle so that she could stare anxiously at Kennedy and Ralph, obviously terrified the big beast was going to eat her Mommy if she turned her head away. It only took a few bounces though before her usual exuberant nature took over and worried grunts were replaced with happy hiccups.

Soon she was bouncing higher than Willow, tucking her knees up to her chin every time she soared into the air; making a sound suspiciously like 'wheee' but with more g's and h's.

Laughing, Willow let go of her paws to just watch. Goorzar did a gleeful double somersault up near the barn roof. Ralph was on his back in front of Kennedy's knees, long legs sticking straight up and his tongue lolling from the side of his mouth as she rubbed his tummy.

Oz smiled. "Okay, I think they're comfortable."

Willow grinned. "Now or never."

Kennedy nodded, still less enthusiastic. "Goorzie, come meet Ralph."

The demon was too busy bouncing to respond.

"Goorzar!" Kennedy called in a very mom-like tone that made Willow hide a smile.

Goorzar stopped bouncing and stared at Kennedy.

"Come say hello."

Willow disembarked and took her paw again; tugging on it gently until the demon hopped down. Goorzar's steps became increasingly reticent despite Kennedy's encouragement.

Ralph abruptly stood up, shaking himself, and Goorzar froze, orange eyes going wide.

"Sit!" Oz commanded quietly.

Ralph did so. All the same Willow had to drag Goorzar the last few steps. She transferred her paw to Kennedy's hand and then she knelt down on the other side of Ralph.

Ralph whined. Goorzar looked stricken. Willow held her breath, waiting for it to end in bloodshed.

Kennedy pulled the demon onto her lap and said quietly but firmly into her ear. "Goorzie, shake hands with Ralph."

Goorzar held up both paws in a confused manner and Willow thought for a second Kennedy's attempt to show off the demon's skills was about to backfire. Goorzie was a smart cookie though.

"Ralph, offer your paw."

He obeyed and Goorzar – whimpering and really not understanding why she was putting herself in so much danger – gingerly reached out to take it in one of hers.

It was a charming moment and all three of the humans shared smiles and sighs of relief.

As the dog whined and tried to pull his paw away it became less sweet, because Goorzar wouldn't let him. A tug of war followed.

Oz was obviously trying to stay cool despite the fact that his dog was about to get his leg pulled off but he looked as worried as Willow had ever seen him.

Kennedy wrapped her fingers firmly around Goorzar's forearm. "Let go, baby!"

Goorzar did so, but only so that she could jump up and down, gibbering excitedly. Ralph jumped in the air too – nearly knocking Oz over – before falling into a crouch. He growled, she hiccupped. Then she launched herself at him. They rolled over once – Willow had to dive out of the way – before the demon landed on top.

Kennedy jumped up. "Get him off of her!"

"How? She's on top of him."

Willow watched the two animals, well beings anyway, fighting. This could be bad, seeing as she had suggested it was a good idea. Actually it had been Xander's idea, so why wasn't he out here chaperoning?

After watching them for a minute she tilted her to one side. Ralph was growling, Goorzar was grunting and there was a lot of paw-play and head-butting but no actual biting. As Kennedy and Oz tried to find the best way to separate them, Willow started to chuckle.

"This isn't funny!" Kennedy glared at her.

"They're just playing!"

Ralph broke free and started running. After a little chase Goorzar landed on his back, bowling him over and over.

"That's not playing!" Kennedy said, starting towards them.

Goorzar got away this time. She bounded across the training barn and leapt up onto the weights bench. Turning, she gibbered down at Ralph. He whined for a moment before backing up and taking a running jump at the bench. Squealing, Goorzar bolted. Ralph sailed straight over and then the chase was back on. They did another circuit of the barn before Ralph caught her and they started all over again.

Oz half-smiled. "Maybe they are playing."

It went on for another five minutes before Ralph flopped down in the centre of the room, panting hard. Goorzar sat close, poking his belly and jaw to get him moving again. Finally she gave up and lay down with her head on the broad expanse of his chest. She threw an arm back comfortably, her favourite way to sleep, and accidentally slapped a big paw over his eyes. Ralph shook his head, dislodging it, and her thick hairy fingers reached out to gently hold his floppy ear instead.

Just like that, they both fell asleep and silence fell over the training barn.

"Okay." Kennedy said eventually. "So, that's _one_ of our problems solved."

The three of them turned to look at each other and the silence grew awkward.

* * *

Buffy turned the roasting potatoes over with some tongs and then shoved them back in to the oven with a clatter. She did the same with the yams, managing to make even more noise.

Xander looked up from where he was preparing the latkes as per Willow's note card instructions but quickly looked down again when he caught Buffy's angry eye.

"I was worried about those three killing each other out there but now I think I'm more worried about you killing us all in here."

Buffy glared at him but said nothing as she started slicing the calabaza.

"Um, what?" Giles looked up from mixing ginger into the peas, carrots and onions. "Oh, yes, quite. Buffy, is there perhaps something troubling you?"

"Yes! My girlfriend is a sex mad maniac!"

"Oh, man, that sucks!" Xander enthused sarcastically.

Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. "I think I preferred it better when you were hardly speaking to me."

"Too bad." Xander shrugged, grinning cheerfully. "I'm feeling a hundred percent more optimistic about life since we voyaged through time and space."

"Yeah, right. You're just trying to annoy me."

"No, see, I'll prove it to you. Throw something at me."

Buffy threw the ladle at him.

He reached out but misjudged it by a few centimetres, catching it with the back of his hand instead of his palm. He knocked its trajectory off-kilter and winced as it bounced off of the top of Giles' head and fell to the floor behind his chair.

Buffy laughed now it was Giles' turn to glare at him.

"Oops." Xander apologised, feeling his enthusiasm slip, but he spoke as if it hadn't. "But see how optimistic I was about it. That's progress."

Giles' glare softened to a weary smile. "Or it could be the four beers you've had since our return."

Xander had been about to pick up his current bottle for a celebratory swig but changed his mind. "It's a holiday, Giles, live a little."

Giles looked around as if to check they were still the only three in the room. "We need to discuss your. . . situation."

"My situation is fine," he said, trying to keep his voice upbeat.

"No, its not," Buffy said automatically, although it was muffled by the fact that her head was deep in the freezer.

Xander wanted to go over there and slam the door on it. He sighed instead. "I think today's been eventful enough."

"Understood." Giles finished his mixing and took the saucepan over to the stove. "But sometime soon, I think."

"Sure, whatever." He pushed the latkes away and picked up his beer after all.

* * *

"So, I'm glad we helped Ralph and Goorzie be friends, but I'm kinda tired now." Willow tried to back away to the door.

"Willow, we can't go on like this." Kennedy's words kept her rooted to the spot.

"Like what?"

"She's right," Oz said softly.

"About what?"

Kennedy sighed. "You have to choose."

Willow bristled at being put on the spot. "I thought you already chose for me."

"I didn't mean to!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I thought you were breaking up with me and I. . .I accidentally pre-empted you and now we're here. I don't know what that means for us, for the future. Whether it means anything at all. But I _didn't _break up with you! I'd never break up with you."

Wow. Okay. She hadn't seen that coming either. What was it with people surprising her today? A side effect of the spell maybe? Or just a result of her trying to shut herself off from everybody for weeks on end.

She found herself automatically turning to Oz to see what he would say.

He was looking down at the dog and demon sprawled out together, having the kind of snuggles she herself wanted, although less with the hairy.

"I've always loved you, Willow. I'll always love you."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kennedy grit her teeth.

Oz hadn't finished though. "But I made some mistakes."

"So did I," she said softly.

He nodded. "I don't want to make anymore and I think walking away from you again would be one." She clenched her eyes shut and he went on. "But making you unhappy would be a bigger one."

Willow re-opened her eyes and the love in them must have been apparent because Kennedy cursed quietly and turned away.

Willow's heart went out to her but she had to do what was right. "Kennedy, I'm sorry, but could you leave us please."

Kennedy turned back to her, stunned tears in her eyes, and then without a word she left the training barn. Goorzar awoke immediately and sleepily followed. Ralph stood up, shook himself, and with one look at Oz followed the demon out.

Willow sighed heavily and sat down on the weights bench, patting it for Oz to take the place next to her. He did so, smiling.

"I love you too, Oz. . ." Willow began one of the hardest conversations of her life.

Oz's smile slowly slipped away.

* * *

Buffy was taking serving bowls to the kitchen table when Faith hobbled into the room. She was feeling better, slayer healing already kicking in to dull the worst of the pain. Plus the mix of alcohol and painkillers had helped.

It still hurt to move, mind. Her stomach only gave her trouble when she stood up or sat down, despite the fact that if the slice had been half an inch deeper her guts would have been spilling out onto the forest floor. Her leg and groin were another matter, aching every time she moved, but the smell of the food had been too good to resist.

Buffy glanced over but didn't say anything. Kennedy was sat at the far end of the table and didn't even bother to look up. Xander and Giles both greeted her readily though.

"Hey, Faith. Nice of you to join us." Xander stood to offer his seat when he realised she was limping but she pushed him back into the chair, taking the opportunity to lean on his shoulder for a moment.

"What, and miss the promise of B's special meal?"

Buffy looked like she wanted to say something but changed her mind with a sigh.

"How are you feeling, Faith?" Giles asked.

"Like I got into a knife fight with an angry midget, but I'll live I guess."

She slowly made her way around the table to get a beer from the fridge. Buffy passed her, trying to carry three full bowls at once, and Faith gave her a hand. She took the one that seemed to be giving her the trouble and set it on the table herself.

Buffy gave her a stoic nod.

Jeez, that didn't even get her a forced thank you smile? Shrugging it off, Faith went to get her drink and came back to the table.

"Sorry I didn't dress right for dinner." She was wearing loose sweat pants and a t-shirt. "Most of my clothes are kinda…"

"Slutty?" Buffy still didn't look at her. "Yeah, we know."

Faith sighed, digging deep for patience. She knew she'd brought this on herself, even if she honestly hadn't meant to piss her off. Buffy had opened up, spilled her fears, obviously trying to push things forward for the two of them and Faith had. . . well, she had tried to do the same. She'd said stuff! Big stuff for her to say! But then Buffy hadn't seemed to get it, and it was too hard, and the painkillers were making her woozy and, dammit, she'd only been kidding about the sex. . .mostly. Now Buffy was doing her big, dramatic scorned chick routine again and they were right back at square one.

Maybe they really weren't cut out to be more than they were right now, which wasn't much of anything really, and that really sucked. And not only because it made Buffy right.

"I was gonna say tight. Didn't want them pulling on my bandages." She took her usual seat at the table, between Buffy and Willow. Not that Willow was there right now. "Red still feeling too sick to join us?"

"No, she's with Oz," Kennedy said quietly, speaking for the first time.

Ah, that explained the red eyes then. She decided to leave that conversation alone.

"So, B, I'm surprised you managed to pull this off so fast. Was half expecting to come down to a stack of take out boxes, yunno?"

"I did offer to order pizzas," Xander said, he was already heaping food onto his plate while everyone else was waiting for Buffy to take her seat.

Buffy shrugged. She still didn't look directly her way, but she did answer. "It's not the fancy special meal I planned exactly, but hopefully it'll be okay."

"It smells awesome."

Buffy didn't acknowledge that as she set the final dish down near the head of the table. "Would you carve, Giles?"

Faith's eyes went wide as she looked at what was on the big plate. First of all, it wasn't what she had been expecting, and second of all, how were you expected to carve it exactly?

"Wasn't there like a giant turkey taking up beer space in the fridge?"

Buffy glared at her. "Do you know how long a turkey takes to roast?"

Faith shrugged, honestly having no idea.

"Besides, I think a pixie stole the recipe; or possibly a troll. Either way, I don't have it."

Faith nodded. "Wasn't that your Mom's recipe?"

Buffy nodded, shrugging at the same time. "It's no big deal."

Faith got the impression it was though.

Willow and Oz came in the back door then, saving Faith from trying to pursue the subject and probably messing it up. She glanced over, half expecting them to be dishevelled from screwing but no one looked that tense after riding the happy train.

Willow walked across the kitchen, eyes trained on Kennedy until she dropped into her seat next to Faith and then she looked down at the table top.

"Sorry we're late."

"You're not late," Buffy said, managing to find a smile for her at least. "We're just about to start."

"Is Ralph in…?" Oz trailed off as he spotted the dog curled up in Goorzar's box with the little demon using him as a pillow.

Faith smiled. It must have been a miracle that got those two all cosy with each other.

Oz was still standing by the back door. He didn't seem to know what to do. His face didn't give a lot away but he kept glancing from Willow to Kennedy to Ralph.

It wasn't Faith's place to invite him to sit his ass down, but Xander took care of it.

"Hey, Oz, Buffy ditzed on the rations. You better grab some food before it's all gone."

"No I didn't!" Buffy griped, a small smile on her face. "I made plenty for all of us. See, Oz?"

"White meat or dark, Oz?" Giles smiled warmly at him.

As Oz came closer to the table, smiling as he saw what Giles was carving, Faith could tell what they were doing. It was the Scooby pep rally. They didn't know what was wrong, but they could see Kennedy had been crying, Willow looked like she wanted her chair to swallow her up and Oz was. . . being unusually fidgety as he eventually took the spare seat between Giles and Xander. They were looking out for one of their own, pulling him comfortingly back into the fold.

Faith felt jealous, and she could admit it was probably irrational because they had given her a home and all, but. . . back in the day, when it would have mattered so much to her, she'd never been given this kind of treatment. Okay, maybe those first few days, but not when she'd really needed it.

Willow perked up ever so slightly when Oz sat down. Helping herself to vegetables and chuckling with Giles over the meat.

Kennedy looked even worse though. Everyone's special treatment of Oz making her hunch deeper in on herself. For the first time Faith realised they really weren't all that different, both on the fringes of this tight-knit family. Both only here because they loved someone who was on the inside.

"Hey, Ken, want one of the yams," Faith asked at a counterpoint to the other conversation, holding the dish out to her.

"No, thanks, I'm not that hungry." Kennedy didn't even look up as she pushed some peas and carrots around her plate.

"Have one anyway." Faith stood, trying not to wince as she leaned across the table to fork one onto Kennedy's mostly empty plate. "Give you something else to play with."

Kennedy looked up with the ghost of a smirk before staring desolately at her dinner again. As Faith sat back down she caught Buffy's eye and the blonde actually smiled at her, a real nice smile too, before touching Faith's arm briefly on the way to grabbing a Jewish potato cake thing.

Okay, being nice to Kennedy earned her smiles. Maybe this was the way she had to learn. She wondered idly what she would have to do to Kennedy to earn her sex, but completely quashed that thought immediately just in case Buffy read it in her eyes.

"Okay, who wants white and who wants dark?" Giles finally asked the table as he stood up to dish out the meat.

"Well, I try to stay kosher on holidays," Willow said, holding her plate out first. "So I guess I'll take some burger."

Giles tilted the dish and pushed a cut up quarter-pounder onto Willow's plate. "Next?"

Faith held her plate up. "White."

Giles forked a couple of sliced bacon rashers onto her plate.

"Is bacon really white meat though?" Buffy asked. "I mean, its kinda red."

Giles looked down at the dish as if unsure. "But pork is white," he ventured.

"But Buffy's right," Xander said as he scooped both half a burger and some of the bacon onto his own plate himself. "It is red, and fatty, and delicious."

"Whatever colour it is," Oz said, motioning for Giles to choose what to put on his plate. "Meat is always good."

His zen moment was broken by Kennedy mumbling around a mouthful of yam, "Says the werewolf."

Several people, not including Oz, looked at her with mild displeasure and it was only Faith snorting with laughter that broke the sudden tension.

"Girl's got a point. Bet you are a bit of a meat connoisseur, right Oz?"

He just smiled.

The rest of the meal passed pleasantly enough, probably because it was mostly silent. Every now and then she shared an awkward look with Buffy. She ate plenty and it all tasted great. She could have had third helpings easily but by the time she went looking all but a few peas were left.

She excused herself from the table so that she could go outside and burp, figuring Buffy wouldn't consider it a compliment if she let loose at the table. She sat at the picnic table to have a cigarette while she was out there.

She'd barely lit it when Kennedy came out and joined her. "Those things will kill you."

"I'm down to like four a day, give me a break."

It was true. Being here gave her enough distractions and working most days meant she didn't even think about having a smoke until after six. It was an addiction though, and a good meal like that one practically begged for a smoke afterwards.

"So what are you doing out here in the cold if you don't want a cig. Not going to bed already, are ya?"

Kennedy shrugged nonchalantly. "Just needed some air."

Faith nodded. "You wanna tell me what went down between you guys earlier?" Kennedy looked down at the table top and she quickly added, "Not trying to pry. Just here if you wanna."

"Since when do you care?"

"I don't," Faith said honestly. "But maybe us outsiders have to stick together."

Kennedy looked up at her with tears in her eyes.

"Doesn't mean I suddenly like you. I still think you're an ass." Faith clarified. "But I'm here. So if ya wanna talk. . . "

"I don't."

The silence after that lasted long enough for her to flick one cigarette away, ignoring the clean ashtray on the table, and light another.

"She chose him," Kennedy said quietly.

"Didn't look like they were that much together to me."

"They probably didn't want to rub it in my face." Kennedy half chuckled, half sobbed.

"Didn't look like that to me either."

"Yeah well maybe you weren't looking as hard I was."

"No, maybe not." Faith took a hard drag on her smoke, blowing it out slowly. "But I was probably more neutrally observant."

Kennedy huffed in annoyance. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Faith was already growing bored of this game. If Kennedy wanted to talk, fine, she'd listen, but this dragging info from her was a chore she couldn't be bothered with.

"It means if they'd been screwing I'd have been able to tell, and I don't think they were."

"Oh, so you have sex telepathy now?"

Faith smirked. "No, but I wish I did. I'm saying they ain't boinked today and I don't think they're likely to boink tomorrow. They weren't screaming togetherness in there. Surely you could see that too?"

Kennedy shook her head, still staring down at the bench top. "Oz told her he loved her and then she asked me to leave. What would you make of that if it was Buffy?"

Faith shrugged, which was a better, more mature, answer than saying she would tear Oz limb from limb.

Kennedy dropped her head into her hands and Faith patted her awkwardly on the shoulder a couple of times as she finished her smoke.

* * *

Thanks for reading :) Feedback/Concrit all gratefully recieved.


	21. Act 4:5

This is the last part of **Anywhere but Here. **Big thanks to everyone who stuck with me through this episode, I know there have been major delays between updates, so for your patience and stamina you all rock :) And for all the lovely reviews too.

* * *

Giles took some of the dinner plates to the sink and checked his watch. "I must telephone the coven. Althenea will be anxious to know Willow is fully recovered."

"Tell her I'll call her soon," Willow said, taking her share of dishes to the counter.

Giles nodded. "I'll be back to help wash up and that was a lovely meal, Buffy, thank you."

"You're welcome." Buffy smiled, her satisfyingly full feeling making her feel generous and less with the bitter rage-iness. "Don't worry about the washing up; we've got it."

"We do?" Xander grinned sceptically.

"I'll let you have another beer."

"Since when are the proprietor of the beers _I _bought?" he asked easily as he forked leftover pumpkin out of the pie dish.

"You really think you can grab one if I want to stop you?"

"Maybe."

"You guys, can we not argue anymore today," Willow begged. "I may be better but I'm still exhausted. I don't know if I can gather the same vitriol as you two."

"It's not an argument, Will."

Xander was surprised. "We're not?"

Not that he had really been in arguing mode but it'd felt like the beginnings of one of their now familiar bickering sessions.

"Nope. I'm simply giving you a choice. You want a beer: you either help with the washing up or you go through me. Personally I'm hoping you'll try and go through me. It'll be fun."

Chuckling, Oz chuckled began to clear the rest of the table. "I don't mind helping."

"No, you're a guest," Buffy said, smiling at him gratefully for offering. "Our only guest in fact."

"I don't mind," he said again.

"Honestly, you don't have to," Willow said quietly.

They were standing close near the sink and took the opportunity to look into one another's eyes for a long minute.

Buffy and Xander took the opportunity to share their own look. Neither of them knew what was happening here. Were they suddenly together now? Or not so suddenly. Had Oz finally made his move? Had _Willow _made a move?

Whatever move had been made it apparently wasn't a particularly romantic one because eventually Oz nodded and turned on his heel, whistling to Ralph. He stopped at the back door.

"Thanks, Buffy."

"My pleasure. Thanks for earlier. Out in the woods. I don't really know what went down yet but I get the impression if you hadn't be there the badness would have been worse."

He nodded and gave Willow one last look. She returned it with an awkward smile. His long-legged, shaggy dog gave Goorzar one last longing look too and then trotted out of the door after him.

Goorzar stared mournfully for a moment before flopping back and pulling her ratty blanket over her head.

Xander smiled. "Ah, the love affair between a demon and her dog."

Chuckling, Buffy turned eagerly to Willow. "So, what's the what?"

"No what."

"Oh, come on, Will." Xander casually made his was to the fridge, taking some bowls to the counter as cover. "There's gotta be a little what there."

"Yeah." Buffy leapt over the counter in one easy, fluid move and landed between Xander and the fridge. "You can't tell me there isn't a story to go with those deep, loving looks."

"Not loving!" Willow said.

"Really?" Buffy asked.

"Well, loving as in 'I love him', but. . . no. Not loving as in, you know, I want to be his girlfriend or anything."

"You don't?" Xander feinted to the left. Buffy didn't even flinch. "But I thought you two were all with the. . . actually I'm not sure what you two were all with, but there was definitely a vibe there."

"No there wasn't."

"Buffy, back me up. Vibe, yay or nay?"

"Definitely yay."

"There ya go. Now, I need to get some milk out of the refrigerator, so Buffy, if you would just let me get to it."

"I'll get it for you." Buffy opened the fridge door, giving Xander a good view of the beers inside, and pulled out a carton of milk.

He looked at it like it was alien produce and then sat it on the side. "Thank you. Now I need some, um, cheese."

"Cheese board is still on the table," she reminded him.

"I meant cheesy flavoured. . . "

"Cheesy flavoured?" she asked innocently.

"Soda," he finished helplessly, not able to think of anything else chilled on the spot.

Buffy grinned and made a shooing motion with her hand. "Just walk away, dude."

"But they're my beers!"

"I told Oz I was gay," Willow suddenly blurted.

Xander and Buffy both immediately forgot their conversation.

"Uh, I thought he already kinda knew that," Buffy said.

"He did. Kinda. I guess, I just told him it was non-negotiable."

"But I thought you two," Xander began, like he was traversing a field of emotional landmines. "I mean, you seemed to be hitting it off again."

"We were. We are! I do love him." Willow started to run the hot water and squirted detergent into the bowl as a distraction. "I just. . .not like that, so much, you know?"

"Like what?" Xander asked.

But Buffy figured she knew. "You don't want to get naked with him."

"No," Willow said in a small voice.

"Ohhhh!" said Xander, catching on. "Well, that's fine, Will. You know we're already down with the gay love. Some of us more than others," he added, nodding his head towards Buffy.

Buffy rolled her eyes with a little shake of her head but otherwise chose to ignore that. "So, does this mean Kennedy's the one?"

Willow shrugged, turning to the sink. "Are you okay with that?"

"Of course I am! Will, don't start this again, please."

"I wasn't aware it had stopped."

"Come on! After all we've just been through do you seriously still think I'm not there for you?"

Willow shrugged again, her back still to them. "I don't know. Xander, has the last twenty-four hours stopped you from hating me?"

Xander looked really shocked by that. "Will, I never hated you."

"You did a pretty good impression of it."

"No! I did a good impression of being pissed at you because I am. Was. Am. I don't know, but I never hated you!"

"Really?" Willow asked in an even smaller voice.

"Really!"

She finally turned to him. "But you were so angry."

"I'm…" he sighed. "I'm just angry period. You got the brunt because you were the only one prepared to call me on it."

Willow smiled tentatively. "You hurt the ones you love the most?"

"Exactly."

Buffy watched as they gave each other a big hug. "Well, that's swell, but what about me?"

Xander smiled over the top of Willow's head. "Give me a beer and we're cool."

"I was talking to Willow!"

Willow let go of him and turned to face her, Buffy held her arms out for a hug.

"We're okay, I guess," she said and went back to the washing up.

"Yeah, I'm really feeling the love over here," Buffy griped as she started putting leftovers into the fridge. Xander tried to reach around her to get a beer and she slapped his hand. "No."

"Please?"

"Earn it."

She caught it out of the corner of her eye as he went from a frowning, motionless start straight into his famed Snoopy dance – hands flapping, feet hopping and skipping on the spot – and she turned to him, a disbelieving smile quirking her lips.

He kept it up, a determined expression on his face, until Willow and Buffy were both laughing.

Finally he gave it up, panting a little. "There."

"Very entertaining but not what I had in mind, sorry."

"But it always earned me anything I wanted back in school," he whined. "Will, tell her!"

"Sorry, Xan, you know I'm with Buffy on the beer thing."

"Fine. I'll talk."

Buffy smirked over her shoulder. "You don't have to talk, just dry the dishes."

"Buffy!" Willow scolded.

"I meant you have to talk while you dry the dishes," she altered quickly. She handed him a tea towel and then started to wipe the counters free of crumbs and spilled sauces with a damp dish rag. "So do you think you have that PSAT thing that soldiers get?"

"PTSD," Willow corrected. "It stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

"I knew that."

"And I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't all have it coming after what we faced in Sunnydale."

"I still have nightmares largely featuring that rickety school bus." Buffy shuddered at the memory of the days upon days spent in the smelly, over-crowded bus.

"I just miss everything," Xander said as he dried a dinner plate. "My apartment, my job, my eye, Anya, _my parents _for Pete's sake! Anya, not being so scared all the time, being able to help you guys out with the slayage, Anya," he said for the third time and then fell quiet.

Buffy and Willow shared an unsure look.

"You helped with the slayage today," Buffy said.

"Yeah, you saved Kennedy's life!" Willow reminded him.

"Right place, right time, literally, and it was just self preservation. I saw the claws and panicked."

"I panicked too when we landed in the middle of that mess," Buffy admitted.

"But you have the confidence to know you can handle yourself. I've lost that."

"It's not confidence most of the time, its cockiness, and I'm the Slayer – cockiness comes with the package. Ask Faith or Kennedy."

"I haven't heard you call yourself The Slayer in a while," Willow said with a soft smile.

Buffy shrugged awkwardly and went back to cleaning. "I'm not any more, am I? But I don't think I want to be Just Buffy after all either."

"Beryan struck a nerve earlier, huh?" Xander chuckled.

Buffy smirked. "Guess so. But believe me, Xan, the cockiness you can fake. It's all the experience that keeps me alive and you already have that. I mean, you were _Nighthawk_!" she ribbed him good-naturedly.

He threw a spoon at her. It went a foot wide and landed on the counter with a tinkling sound. His smile went south.

"I have experience with _two _eyes! And I left one of those in Sunnydale. I don't think I can do it with just. . ."

He turned away from them, suddenly scared he was going to cry. It wasn't just his pride he was worried about hurting, tears physically stung like hell now too. Buffy and Willow didn't say anything and after a minute he had the feeling under control enough to continue.

"I just can't believe I miss freaking Sunnydale! And instead of it getting easier it gets. . .it gets harder! I see you two being all happy with your lives here and I get angry because I can't handle the missage. I mean how pathetic do I have to get before I. . .!"

He gave a thankfully dry sob and braced his arms on the counter as he shut his eye tight, breathing through the urge to go fetal-like on the stone floor.

"We're not happy here," Buffy and Willow said simultaneously.

"Ha!" Xander didn't believe them, despite the evidence piling up daily.

They had to be happier than him; if they weren't there was something really wrong with all of them.

"Yeah, we miss all that stuff too," Buffy said, abandoning the cleaning to move to his side. "I miss my house, my Mom's things, going to talk to her every night on patrol. I miss Anya and Spike and hanging with you guys at the Magic Box. I miss my job – I mean we all know I'm never going to get another one that good unless another slayer's kid becomes principal of McKinley High. I miss Sunnydale too, Xan, it was our town, yunno?"

"Me too!" Willow moved up close to his other side. "I miss college and walking down by the water in Weatherly Park and the Espresso Pump – the Mouth's mochas are not the same!"

"Not enough sprinkles," Buffy agreed.

Xander chuckled, nodding his head.

"And. . . and I miss that everywhere I looked there was a memory of Tara. I know she was already gone before. . . I didn't lose her right at the end like you both lost the people you love but. . . but she always with me there, you know? I think that's why I was wooed by the idea of being with Oz again. I mean, please don't tell him that, but he represents a part of my past where I was happy, he's a piece of Sunnydale. Kennedy and I had, what, four months there? And we didn't exactly do the couply thing much."

"You did it quite a bit," Buffy said dryly, causing Xander to chuckle.

Willow blushed and gave them an admonishing smile. "I wasn't referring to smooches. I meant like the 'building a life around each other' stuff and 'Sunnydale and the saving of' was my life, our lives, mostly yours," she conceded to Buffy, "but it was part of who I was. It was part of who Oz and I were too, and Tara and I. Here its like, we could not even be here and the place would tick along as unevil-y as ever."

Buffy shrugged. "We did stop that demon rising thing."

"And now we have this exciting new lizard demon mystery to solve," Xander added.

"You said 'we'," Buffy smiled. "I think that's the first step of getting the Scooby gang back together again."

Xander was surprised he had said that. It had been a slip of the tongue after long years of habit. He didn't feel a part of the gang anymore and he missed that most of all.

"In theory, maybe. I'm still depth-perception-challenged guy."

"We can work on that." Willow promised and then she took a good look at him. "Actually, I might mean that literally. I read something a few years back about a firm in LA doing eye transplants."

She reached for his eye patch and he automatically knocked her hand away, harder than he meant to. She retracted her hand, unconsciously rubbing it.

"Sorry," they said at the same time.

"I can't. . .not. . .I don't want. . . I can't even think about that, Will."

"Maybe some other time?" Buffy suggested, seeing Willow's crestfallen face.

"Maybe, one day, I don't know."

And that was as much as he was prepared to give on the subject. It wasn't like he hadn't thought of some kind of magickal or medical way to regain full sight but all the fantasies ended abruptly, right when he imagined someone getting close enough to his empty socket to do something about it. He couldn't even take care of it himself without fear and revulsion kicking in. He wasn't about to let a complete stranger anywhere near his eyesore of an injury, pun not intended.

"Well, we can still work on it other ways," Buffy said. "You just have to get some more practical experience with one eye."

"Like how? Gonna throw me in a vamp nest and let me fumble my way out?"

"Ooh, we could start small," Willow said excitedly, catching on to Buffy's thinking. "More catching practise!"

"And no time like the present," Buffy agreed.

"It's too dark to throw a baseball around outside," Xander said. "I guess we could go to the training barn but. . . "

"No, Buffy said practical experience." Willow picked up a plate. "That means no soft options. Go to the other end of the room."

Xander eyed Willow and the plate dubiously. "You do remember what my catching skills were like two days ago, right? Giles will go ape if I start smashing plates for your amusement."

He expected Buffy to agree against this insane plan but instead she nodded excitedly. "No it's perfect. It'll be you Giles is mad at so you better really concentrate." She grabbed her own plate out of the washing up bowl, heedless of it dripping all over the floor.

Figuring the quickest way to get this humiliating experience over with was to go along with it, he moved over near the back stairs.

"Okay, let the smashing commence."

"Concentrate," Willow instructed and then threw the plate at him.

Personally he didn't blame his lack of depth perception when the plate flew past his reaching hands and smashed against the back wall so much as Willow's crappy aim.

He was about to comment on it when Goorzar, woken by the plate hitting the wall above her head, suddenly bolted out of her bed box, shrieking. They all watched guiltily as she made a frantic circuit of the kitchen looking for Kennedy. Willow bent down to try and comfort her but was only used a jumping off point, knocking her on her butt against the cupboards.

Eventually Buffy opened the back door. "Your Mom's out there."

Goorzar shot through the door, whimpering, and Buffy shut it again with a grimace.

"We probably should have given her some warning." The other two nodded. "Okay, Xan, get ready."

"You don't really want to. . ." he began; one failure was enough for the night.

"Five, four, three. . ."

Xander hurried back into position. Buffy's aim was as good as any guided missile and all he had to do was hold his hands out in front of him. He began to smile as he felt his palms touch the plate. The water and slippery detergent still dripping from the china had other ideas. For a few seconds it looked as though he was juggling and then he gave up trying to get a decent grip and watched instead as it broke into three pieces at his feet.

"I'm calling unfair disadvantage that has nothing to do with my lack of eye," he said, still looking at it.

"My bad," Buffy wiped her wet hands guiltily on the back of her pants.

"Okay, that was completely not fun. I'm going to bed." It had been a long forty-eight hours. "Same time tomorrow, ladies?"

"Just one more," Buffy said before he could leave the kitchen.

"You're joking, right?" he began irritably before he realised what she was pulling out of the fridge. "Ooh, I catch a plate I get a beer?"

"Nope. You obviously don't care enough about the plates, but catch this and it's yours."

"Buff, are you sure that's a good idea?" Willow whispered nervously, like Xander was missing an ear instead of an eye. "Glass and beer will be a lot harder to clean up."

"That's true," Buffy said thoughtfully. "And Andrew's not back for another couple of days." She shook her head. "No, I'm sure."

"Just for the record, I'm offended that you think a beer is more important to me than the pl. . ."

The bottle of beer was already soaring towards him, its trajectory deliberately a little off to make him work. His left palm smacked it too hard and his fist closed empty. His right hand came up to catch it and just missed. He flapped and flailed his arms so much he looked like he was doing the Snoopy dance again but eventually… _eventually!..._ a dive and some creative acrobatics later and he landed on his side with the bottle pressed securely between the palm of his right hand and his left elbow.

He lay there panting; sweating profusely. "Hey, I did it!"

The back door was shoved open, revealing Kennedy in panic mode. Goorzar was gibbering behind her.

"Xander, what happened? Are you okay?" she asked, seeing him on the floor.

"Yeah, I'm good."

He rolled on to his back grinning and opened the bottle of beer. It frothed up and half of his victory sip leaked over his cheek due to his prone position but he didn't care.

Kennedy looked around and saw Buffy and Willow, all smiles, standing at the other end of the kitchen.

"I heard something smash and then Goorzie came running out terrified."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Buffy said. "We smashed a plate and it freaked her out. So where's Faith? Didn't she feel like running to our rescue too?"

"She went to the training barn for weapons, but considering how slow she's moving I wouldn't expect the cavalry to arrive before Christmas."

She scooped a still frightened Goorzar up in her arms and surveyed the people in the kitchen again. Xander was still smiling up at her from the floor, sipping happily from his beer.

"I caught it!" he said by way of explanation, toasting her with the bottle.

"Good for you. Well, as long as you're all having fun in here, I'm going to bed. I'll take Goorz with me. She's scared and I could… use the company," Kennedy turned to leave.

"Kennedy, wait. . ." Buffy began, feeling bad that she would be out in the dorm all alone.

When Kennedy turned to her, Buffy realised what she was doing and glanced at Willow, deferring to her. Willow took the opportunity; clearing her throat and stepping forward.

"I know you're tired, but could we talk a minute."

Kennedy looked away. "Its okay, Will. I know you're with Oz now. No need for any confessionals."

"What? No, no I'm not! I told him earlier that . . that we weren't, you know, gonna be together that way."

Kennedy's head shot around as Willow dropped her eyes to the floor.

"I understand if it's too late."

"I don't if it is."

Really?"

Willow looked up excitedly at the same moment that Kennedy buried her face in Goorzar's hair. Again they missed making eye-contact.

"Maybe you two should go somewhere to talk," Xander suggested, finally getting up from the floor.

Neither Kennedy nor Willow appeared to hear.

Kennedy looked up from Goorzar. "I think I love you."

Smiling hopefully, Willow took one step closer. "I think I might love you too."

"But this isn't right."

"Loving each other isn't right?"

"No, that's good." Kennedy absent-mindedly handed Goorzar to Buffy – who accepted her just as absentmindedly. "But the fact that we broke up so easily over something stupid."

"It wasn't stupid!"

"And the fact that we still disagree on that means something too."

"What are you saying?" Willow took another step closer but her body language was defensive now.

Kennedy hesitated. "I'm saying I think I love you but I don't like the way that's made me feel so far."

"It's not been a bucket of kittens for me either."

"I get that." Kennedy looked at the kitchen floor for a moment. "We were different people in Sunnydale. Everything was so intense. We thought we only had weeks, days even, to live."

"I still don't think I don't understand where this is going." Willow looked to Buffy and Xander for a clue, or maybe some moral support.

Buffy took the cue. "Ken, you're being pretty vague here. I know you love Willow; just make up already."

Kennedy shot her a nasty look. "Faith's hobbling over here to save your life. Why don't you go and reward _her_ by doing her on the picnic bench?"

Buffy's grip on Goorzar tensed as she clenched her teeth, but she managed not to retaliate. Kennedy was getting extra laps tomorrow though.

"You won't be with me because you don't want to reward me?" Willow asked, confused.

"I want to be with you, I just. . ." Kennedy winced at whatever she was thinking before continuing. "I didn't leave you, Will."

"You broke up with me!"

"I already explained that was a misunderstanding. I've got no baggage!" Kennedy laid it on the line. "I was yours from the moment we laid eyes on each other."

"So you're holding the fact that I have ex's against me?" Willow spat. "Sorry for being three years older than you, but you knew that when you pursued me."

"It's got nothing to do with the age gap and I _have_ exes! I just never fell in love with every single person I ever kissed!"

"In that case I'm sorry that being intimate with someone actually means something to me!"

"You know what? Forget it!" Kennedy turned to leave again.

"Kennedy, do not walk out," Buffy demanded.

"Why not?"

"Firstly because you don't really want to, and secondly because I'm telling you not to."

Kennedy turned back to Willow. "Do you want to hear my suggestion?"

Willow was obviously still seething but nodded.

"Being with you makes me feel like I'm spinning backwards on my head but being without you is worse, horrible, it makes me feel empty. But we obviously have issues, Will. Big ones."

"You have issues."

"So you didn't just let me accidentally break up with you without putting up an ounce of fight?" Seeing Willow's expression bordering on tears, Kennedy backed down without making her answer. "I know I screwed up over Oz. Maybe I pushed us to this to place with my own hang ups. I think it's because we got really serious in like a week. It didn't feel that rushed at the time, because everything else was moving at the same pace, but I think most of _my_ issues come from the fact that I learned how you'd react to an ubervamp attack before I knew what kind of milk you like on your Wheaties."

"Half and half," Willow said. "Skim…."

"…med on Cocoa Puffs," Kennedy finished for her, making Willow grin. "I know now, but we did it backwards. I want to try and do it forwards this time; because I think I can be the person you want to be with."

"I do want to be with you," Willow said.

"I just need you to give us another chance."

"I do!" Willow nodded eagerly. "I want another chance too."

"Honestly, I came up with most of this speech before you told me you weren't with Oz."

"Now it's making a little more sense," Buffy whispered to Xander. Kennedy cut her another look and she made a show of pursing her lips shut.

Willow smiled. "So. . .do you want to finish this in our room?"

Kennedy smiled at the mention of 'our' room but shook her head. "No."

"Why not?"

"We're not together. You only just decided you didn't want to be with Oz. That's not starting fresh, that's just jumping back in right where we were before. Buffy has made me realise that sex should be earned."

Buffy rolled her eyes to Xander, muttering, "That's me back in the dog house; and it was so nice not to be for three whole minutes."

"You want me to earn sex from you?" Willow sounded really confused now and kind of horrified.

"No, I'm saying we should earn it together."

"How?"

Kennedy shrugged. "I don't know but hopefully we'll figure it out."

"Can't we just skip the awkward in-between bit?" Willow asked anxiously.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Kennedy focused on taking Goorzar back from Buffy. "I think I'm talking about forever here, and I don't think we should be trying to rush it any more.

"So how should we be doing it?"

"To start with I think I'm going to take my Thanksgiving vacation after all, go home for a little while, if that's okay."

"Um sure, but Thanksgiving is over." Buffy glanced at Willow.

She couldn't turn Kennedy down. All of the other girls had had vacations and Kennedy had barely asked for a day off. How could she say yes though when it would hurt Willow? Especially now when her treatment of Kennedy could well determine her hopes of a future with Willow as her best friend.

In the end she chickened out. "So I can't authorise it. You'll have to ask Giles."

Kennedy nodded. "I won't go until Andrew gets back anyway."

"Why?" Xander asked.

"Goorzie," Willow sounded shell-shocked.

"He knows her as well as I do. Plus the juniors get back the same day as he does so you won't be short-handed."

Buffy just nodded.

"Do you really have to go?" Willow asked.

"Just for a little while. We'll speak first though." Kennedy closed the distance between them to kiss Willow on the cheek.

Buffy and Xander both grinned when Goorzar gave Willow a big smacker of a kiss on her other cheek, copying her Mom. Willow grinned too and pushed the demon away enough to place a kiss on her prominent brow.

Kennedy smiled. "I'm going to speak to Giles now."

"He's in his office," said Xander.

As Kennedy left through the swing door Faith barged, slowly, through the back door. She held a sword and a crossbow. She was still trying to load the bow as she came in.

"Where should I point this thing?"

Xander pointed at one of the broken plates. Buffy pointed to the other one. As Faith stared at them like they'd lost they're minds Willow pointed at herself.

"Shoot me. Please," she added emphatically.

"Is she evil?" Faith asked Buffy.

"No, just upset."

"Kennedy's leaving for a little while," Xander said.

"Oh. Sorry, Red, that truly sucks. That you two couldn't work it out, I mean." Faith dropped the sword and crossbow onto the table as Buffy, Willow and Xander all took seats at the other end. She seemed to think about something for a moment before saying quickly. "B, can we talk?"

"Um," Buffy looked up in surprise. "I, uh, don't know. Now's not really good," she tilted her head to Willow.

"It's okay. I'm fine." Willow really didn't look it though; tears were brimming in her eyes.

Buffy shook her head. "No, I'm staying here. Faith's waited this long, I'm sure she can wait a little longer."

"Actually, I can't."

Buffy just shrugged.

Faith sighed impatiently and started to storm out. She was halfway to the door when she changed her mind and walked to Buffy's chair instead.

She leaned on the table beside her. "I prefer rock to metal, don't tell anyone."

"Huh? Are we playing 'Animal, vegetable or mineral'?" Buffy asked, confused. "'Cause I suck at that game."

"My favourite colour is red. I like dark chocolate. I always wanted to be a drummer when I was a kid. I'm half-polish, half-Irish. My mom started drinking heavy after my dad walked out, or maybe that's why he walked out. She died from a fucked liver and I dropped outta school 'cause I couldn't handle everyone talking about me and prying into my shit." She paused for breath and if she noticed their wide eyes she didn't let them slow her down. "Uh, I never really had a favourite subject at school but I had a lesbian crush on my Spanish teacher so maybe that counts. I was a gawky little kid, all legs no tits, until I hit fifteen and then. . . " She looked down at her chest with a smirk. "I don't like beets or blue cheese or maple syrup or banana milkshake. I've slept with two women. You and a biker chick in prison that looked exactly like you would if you were half a foot taller and thirty pounds heavier. Oh, and if you were wondering, you're a hell of a lot better in bed." She winked as Buffy blushed. Willow and Xander smirked. "And if you want to wait another six months before we have sex, that's fine, I'll wait, but I don't promise not to ask every other day if you're ready yet. I'm not gonna change myself for you, don't think I even could, but I do want to be with you. I've always wanted to be with you. So. . . balls in your court now, chica."

Faith stood up straight, looking a tad embarrassed that she had divulged so much. She gave Buffy – who was staring at her speechless – a nod and then turned to the swing door.

Buffy was still just gaping at her walked away stiffly, but after a rousing shake of her head she leapt out of her chair. Catching Faith's shoulder before she could leave, she pulled her back, swung her around and caught the back of her head in both hands to pull her down for a deeply scorching kiss.

Faith moaned as Buffy's tongue slid into her mouth and the quiet sound made Buffy press closer to her, relishing the contact of their mouths and bodies. As their hips bumped together Faith hissed in pain and backed an inch away but her hands swept up into Buffy's hair at the same time, keeping their lips deliciously locked together.

The kiss lasted longer than any of Faith's recent fly-by smooches and when Buffy did bring it to an end they both sighed happily.

"I love you."

No one was more surprised than Buffy when the words slipped from her mouth but instead of stuttering an attempt to take them back she just smiled wider, the look in her eyes leaving Faith in no doubt she was one hundred percent serious.

"I…" Faith gulped, her smile slipping a little before coming back hesitantly. She screwed her eyes shut for a moment before looking deep into Buffy's. "I still can't believe you thought I only came back for a hot meal."

Buffy grinned, that was good enough for now. "We'll talk tomorrow?"

"Sure." Faith leaned in to give her another kiss and left the kitchen.

Breathless, Buffy walked back to the table, shooting Xander and Willow embarrassed glances as she sat down.

"Oh God, did I really just say. . . ?"

"Yep." They said in unison.

"So much for making her say it first!" Buffy fell forward, her forehead banging onto the table top. "Ow."

"She kinda did," Xander said. "Just not in so many words."

Willow patted her back. "But in lots and lots of other words instead."

Buffy grinned down at the wood an inch from her eyes. "I guess."

* * *

Mellusa stroked the Meluthian Hedray's smooth, green head; soothing the savage demonic beast's high pitched keening.

"I am sorry, little one; I should never have dropped the protection spell."

It's freshly blinded eyes turned to her out of instinct and it whimpered again in pain and puzzlement at its lack of sight.

"I had little choice, you understand. To continue it was to act as a beacon and Olwyn knows the taste of my signature too well."

What she didn't admit out loud, even with only the injured demon to hear her, was that she had made a mistake, a series of mistakes. The most heinous of which was underestimating her foes.

The Chaotic Nerve spell was supposed to keep the Witch out of the loop permanently. She had considered the Slayer and the Watcher being caught with her as fortuitous. She had taken out three of her most powerful enemies at once instead of one at a time. With them banished, the inferior children at the camp should have fallen over time, one by one.

She had celebrated that night with her latest amour, feasting on the cocaine-laced blood of a seventeen year old super model in the penthouse suite of the Ritz-Carlton in Cleveland.

She hadn't even been aware of the werewolf in their midst and she was angry that the knowledge had somehow slipped past her.

Now, somehow, the witch and her hanger-on's had returned, beating one of the most debilitating spells known to the darker arts and completely crushing her lizard army. All that was left was this pathetic, blind, whining creature acting like a kicked lapdog.

Sighing irritably, she reached for the sheaved dagger at her hip and with one swift, merciful strike her blade pierced its heart. She continued to offer comfort through its death throes and then pushed its lifeless body away from her.

The loss of her soldiers was annoying but hardly a devastating blow. They bred like rabbits out there in the wilderness. Hundreds of them solitarily hiding from humanity. Most of their kills were blamed on mountain lions, bears or even humans. Like most of the ancient demonic species they had learned that to show themselves was to be hunted and trapped, killed outright or kept in captivity, always either sport or spectacle.

So they kept themselves hidden and they prospered. They could take a city like Cleveland in a week if they had the sense to band together but the instinct that they were safer alone had, over the centuries, been firmly bred into them.

Mellusa lit a kerosene lamp and left the expensive comfort of her rented mansion for the dark tunnels beneath it.

As her presence was detected the unnatural squealing and grunting became loud and terrifying. Any human would have been so scared their heart might very well have stopped but Mellusa hadn't been anything so mundane as mortal in a very long time.

Only one thing could make the Meluthian Hedrays group together en masse. Only one thing had the power to draw dozens, even hundreds, like ants to a jam jar and make them act as a single-minded unit.

Mellusa flicked the switch she had installed herself weeks ago and florescent lights flickered on, reflecting off of the titanium bars of a cage and seventeen tons of smooth-scaled lizard.

She whispered a protection incantation as the forty foot reptile's broad snout whipped around to face her and the blast of fire that issued from its sharp toothed-mouth washed over her harmlessly. She stared the creature down until the last flame had licked away.

It roared when, with difficulty – it could only fix one of its large, scarlet hued eyes on her at once – it realised its captor was still alive, after a fashion. A huge, scale-plated shoulder rammed the bars. The cage, the whole chamber in fact, trembled but held strong.

"They killed my pets," she leaned against the wall and looked up at the giant lizard. "So you are going to call some more."

The proud creature refused at first, as always, and she grinned with power as she said the words that would force its vast mind under her control.

With a horrendous roar the gargantuan Sekopiluthian Hedray succumbed.

**[End of Episode 9]**

* * *

**Coming soon: **House of the Setting Sun 10: The Demon in Red.


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